Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR Shares Acquired by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,464,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 221,039 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 3.49% of Otter Tail worth $120,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OTTR. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Otter Tail by 2.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 116,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after buying an additional 4,815 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Otter Tail in the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 190.8% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 54,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after buying an additional 35,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered Otter Tail from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OTTR opened at $90.04 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $86.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.35. Otter Tail Corporation has a 1 year low of $71.79 and a 1 year high of $90.41. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.28.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $308.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $311.15 million. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $0.5775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

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.