Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 103,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,024 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $8,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 129.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Otter Tail by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Otter Tail in the second quarter worth $53,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Otter Tail in the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Otter Tail in the fourth quarter worth $106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OTTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reiterated a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Siebert Williams Shank cut shares of Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Otter Tail has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Up 0.3%

OTTR opened at $86.77 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.06. Otter Tail Corporation has a twelve month low of $74.15 and a twelve month high of $92.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01 and a beta of 0.45.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.31. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 21.34%.The firm had revenue of $347.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $339.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Otter Tail’s payout ratio is 34.63%.

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.