Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys New Shares in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 38,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,143,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. owned about 0.09% of Otter Tail at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 31.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 409,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,542,000 after purchasing an additional 98,243 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Otter Tail in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,602,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Otter Tail by 309.5% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 77,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,968,000 after buying an additional 58,511 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 20.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 341,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,326,000 after buying an additional 57,751 shares during the period. Finally, HRT Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,897,000. 61.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

Shares of OTTR opened at $85.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.07. Otter Tail Corporation has a 12 month low of $71.66 and a 12 month high of $86.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.06. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.48% and a return on equity of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $325.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $337.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.5775 per share. This is a boost from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is 34.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Otter Tail to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Otter Tail Company 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.