JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 264,009 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $49,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the third quarter valued at about $337,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in Otter Tail during the third quarter worth about $122,000. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Otter Tail by 4.3% during the third quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 29,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Otter Tail in the 3rd quarter worth about $562,000. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Otter Tail in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,017,000. 61.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Otter Tail Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OTTR opened at $84.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.51. Otter Tail Corporation has a 1-year low of $71.79 and a 1-year high of $90.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.5775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.21%.

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.