Bank of America Corp DE Purchases Shares of 312,589 Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired 312,589 Otter Tail shares during the second quarter, worth approximately $28.1 million and representing about 0.74% of the utility company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: four analysts rate Otter Tail “Hold” and one rates it “Sell,” resulting in a consensus “Reduce” rating and an $86 target price.
• Otter Tail exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $1.66 versus $1.51 estimated, while maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.5775, or $2.31 annually.

Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 312,589 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $28,127,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.74% of Otter Tail at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Otter Tail by 248.8% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 286 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Otter Tail by 129.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 376 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on OTTR shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Otter Tail from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Monday, June 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "reduce" rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Otter Tail from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Trading Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:OTTR opened at $90.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.13.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.15. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 14.83%.The company had revenue of $334.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $326.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

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

Otter Tail Company 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.

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