Inspire Advisors LLC Makes New $1.05 Million Investment in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,046,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. HighMark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Otter Tail by 44.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Otter Tail during the second quarter worth about $53,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Otter Tail by 14.9% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Otter Tail by 84.3% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. 61.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OTTR. Weiss Ratings upgraded Otter Tail from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Zacks Research upgraded Otter Tail to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

NASDAQ OTTR opened at $87.85 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Otter Tail Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $71.79 and a fifty-two week high of $88.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.20 and a 200-day moving average of $81.43. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $0.5775 dividend. This is a boost from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail’s payout ratio is presently 31.67%.

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.