Legal & General Group Plc Invests $7.67 Million in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 85,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,674,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OTTR. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 217.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,390,000 after acquiring an additional 367,869 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Otter Tail during the 2nd quarter worth $7,778,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Otter Tail by 86.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 11,850 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Otter Tail by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 178,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,637,000 after purchasing an additional 41,924 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Otter Tail by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 336,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,533,000 after purchasing an additional 11,363 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Otter Tail Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ OTTR opened at $89.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $91.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Otter Tail Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.15 and a 52-week high of $95.09.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.15. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 14.83%.The company had revenue of $334.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.5775 per share. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Profile

Otter Tail Corporation, through its primary subsidiary Otter Tail Power Company, is a regulated electric utility engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The company operates a diversified portfolio of owned and contracted power generation facilities, including coal, natural gas, wind and hydroelectric units, supplemented by long-term power purchase agreements. In addition to utility operations, Otter Tail provides related engineering, construction and maintenance services to support grid reliability and efficiency.

The company’s service territory covers a predominantly rural footprint in the Upper Midwest, including communities in west-central Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, northwest Wisconsin and small portions of South Dakota.