Essex Financial Services Inc. Reduces Position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $1,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Otis Worldwide by 1,094.9% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in Otis Worldwide by 3.8% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 34,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 10,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 43,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,483,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Peiming Zheng sold 32,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.43, for a total transaction of $3,119,988.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,127.67. The trade was a 99.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 4,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total transaction of $450,807.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,353,358.07. The trade was a 16.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 105,621 shares of company stock worth $10,046,255 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OTIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Otis Worldwide in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lowered Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Otis Worldwide from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Otis Worldwide presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.88.

Otis Worldwide Stock Up 0.6 %

Otis Worldwide stock opened at $96.61 on Wednesday. Otis Worldwide Co. has a twelve month low of $89.37 and a twelve month high of $106.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $94.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.09. The firm has a market cap of $38.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 1.06.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.02). Otis Worldwide had a negative return on equity of 31.76% and a net margin of 11.53%. Equities analysts expect that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Otis Worldwide declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, January 16th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Otis Worldwide’s payout ratio is currently 38.42%.

About Otis Worldwide

Otis Worldwide Corporation engages in manufacturing, installation, and servicing of elevators and escalators in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, New Equipment and Service. The New Equipment segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs a range of passenger and freight elevators, as well as escalators and moving walkways for residential and commercial buildings, and infrastructure projects.