Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.58 Per Share

Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.5775 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is a 10.0% increase from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53.

Otter Tail has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Otter Tail has a dividend payout ratio of 38.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Otter Tail to earn $3.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.0%.

Otter Tail Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:OTTR opened at $84.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.82 and a current ratio of 3.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.53 and its 200-day moving average is $80.99. The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.56. Otter Tail has a 52-week low of $71.66 and a 52-week high of $86.48.

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

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.