Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $87.35 and traded as high as $91.39. Otter Tail shares last traded at $90.09, with a volume of 296,242 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OTTR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Friday, May 29th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank lowered 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Up 3.4%

The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.41.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $347.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $339.10 million. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 21.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.5775 dividend. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Otter Tail’s payout ratio is currently 34.63%.

Institutional Trading of Otter Tail

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OTTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 77.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264,009 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 217.6% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,390,000 after purchasing an additional 367,869 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its position in shares of Otter Tail by 786.4% during the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 56,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 49,891 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Otter Tail by 86.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 11,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,556,000. 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.