Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Otter Tail by 16.2% in the first quarter, buying an additional 32,266 shares and bringing its total holding to 231,889 shares worth about $20.35 million.
• Otter Tail reported strong quarterly earnings, posting EPS of $1.73 versus analyst expectations of $1.42 and revenue of $347.03 million, while also raising quarterly revenue 2.9% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.5775 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 2.6%, and analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with a $86 target price.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 231,889 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 32,266 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.55% of Otter Tail worth $20,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OTTR. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 217.6% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,390,000 after buying an additional 367,869 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in 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 worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 49,891 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Otter Tail by 86.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,504 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 11,850 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in Otter Tail in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,556,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Otter Tail by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 41,187 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 8,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company's stock.

Otter Tail Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OTTR opened at $90.57 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Otter Tail Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.15 and a fifty-two week high of $95.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.45.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.31. The company 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%.Otter Tail's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.5775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on OTTR shares. 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. Zacks Research downgraded 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. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded 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 note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "reduce" rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Otter Tail currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Company Profile

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.

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