Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 16,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,333,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the second quarter worth about $53,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the fourth quarter worth about $106,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 61.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on OTTR shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank cut shares of Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Otter Tail has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

Otter Tail stock opened at $87.29 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.47. Otter Tail Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.15 and a fifty-two week high of $92.24.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $347.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $339.10 million. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 15.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.5775 dividend. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.63%.

Otter Tail 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.