Vest Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 58.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,185 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $5,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OTTR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Otter Tail to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Otter Tail has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

Shares of Otter Tail stock opened at $89.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $83.30 and a 200 day moving average of $81.54. Otter Tail Corporation has a 12 month low of $71.79 and a 12 month high of $89.69.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued 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 is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.67%.

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.