Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Shares Break Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Key Points

• Otter Tail shares briefly moved above their 200-day moving average of $89.18, reaching $89.89 before last trading at $88.04.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: four analysts rate the stock Hold and one rates it Sell, resulting in a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $86.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $1.66 versus $1.51 forecast and revenue of $334.4 million, while maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.5775 per share, yielding about 2.6% annually.

Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $89.18 and traded as high as $89.89. Otter Tail shares last traded at $88.04, with a volume of 217,040 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Otter Tail from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $90.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.18. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.44.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $334.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. Otter Tail's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Otter Tail

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Otter Tail in the 2nd quarter valued at about $590,053,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in Otter Tail during the second quarter worth approximately $48,578,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,238,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,127,000. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,778,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company's stock.

Otter Tail Company Profile

Otter Tail Corporation is a diversified operating company headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Through its principal subsidiary, Otter Tail Power Company, it generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Otter Tail Power Company operates a mix of generation resources and maintains the transmission and distribution infrastructure needed to deliver electricity across its service territory.

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