Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 10,596 Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR)

Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,596 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $852,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 545,618 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,288,000 after purchasing an additional 71,601 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 411,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $30,369,000 after purchasing an additional 48,888 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 291,344 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $21,513,000 after purchasing an additional 96,573 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 273,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $20,209,000 after purchasing an additional 10,250 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 231,561 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,611,000 after purchasing an additional 5,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Siebert Williams Shank raised Otter Tail from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $82.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

Otter Tail Trading Up 0.2%

Otter Tail stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $82.25. 35,947 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 236,151. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.56. Otter Tail Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $71.66 and a fifty-two week high of $92.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $78.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.82.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $333.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $329.60 million. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 16.85% and a net margin of 21.82%. The firm's revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Otter Tail's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.88%.

Otter Tail Profile

Otter Tail Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in electric utility, manufacturing, and plastic pipe businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric, Manufacturing, and Plastics. The Electric segment produces, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and operates as a participant in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator markets.