Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Otter Tail (OTTR) stock hit a new 52-week high of $92.00 (last $91.88) on Tuesday, trading 276,237 shares that day.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of Hold with an average price target of $83.00, and Weiss Ratings recently downgraded the shares from Buy to Hold.
• Otter Tail beat quarterly EPS expectations ($1.23 vs. $1.16) while revenue slightly missed ($308.1M vs. $311.15M); the company has a market cap of $3.85B and a PE of 14.01.

Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $92.00 and last traded at $91.88, with a volume of 276237 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Otter Tail from a "buy (b)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $87.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.06.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $308.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $311.15 million. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company's revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Otter Tail

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OTTR. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 2.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 116,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Otter Tail by 26.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,825,000 after buying an additional 4,815 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Otter Tail by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,978,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of Otter Tail during the first quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Otter Tail by 190.8% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 54,112 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,349,000 after buying an additional 35,505 shares during the period. 61.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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