Squarepoint Ops LLC Lowers Holdings in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Squarepoint Ops LLC decreased its position in shares of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,747 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Otter Tail worth $5,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at about $224,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 17.5% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 2,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Otter Tail by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Otter Tail during the 2nd quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Otter Tail by 8,634.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,887,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,842,722 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on OTTR shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Monday, June 1st. UBS Group reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Otter Tail from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

Shares of OTTR opened at $88.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 0.44. Otter Tail Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.15 and a 12 month high of $95.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $91.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.99.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.15. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 14.83%.The firm had revenue of $334.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.5775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.78%.

Otter Tail Profile

Otter Tail Corporation is a diversified holding company headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Its principal business is electric utility operations conducted through Otter Tail Power Company, which generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Otter Tail Power Company operates a portfolio of generation and transmission assets and provides related utility services in the upper Midwest.