Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

OTTR has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Siebert Williams Shank lowered shares of Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Otter Tail currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OTTR opened at $87.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.03. Otter Tail has a 1-year low of $74.15 and a 1-year high of $92.24.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $347.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $339.10 million. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 15.21%. Otter Tail’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Analysts forecast that Otter Tail will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Otter Tail by 3.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 336,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,533,000 after buying an additional 11,363 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Otter Tail by 47.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 8,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 2,631 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Otter Tail by 24.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,906,000 after buying an additional 8,750 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Otter Tail by 30.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 178,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,637,000 after buying an additional 41,924 shares during the period. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Otter Tail by 15.5% during the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

About Otter Tail

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.