Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 35,488 Shares of Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 815,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 35,488 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $71,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Otter Tail by 217.6% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,390,000 after purchasing an additional 367,869 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 786.4% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 56,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 49,891 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 86.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,238,000 after buying an additional 11,850 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,556,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,663 shares in the last quarter. 61.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OTTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Monday, June 1st. 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. Siebert Williams Shank cut 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OTTR opened at $88.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Otter Tail Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.15 and a 12 month high of $95.00.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released 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. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 21.34%.The firm had revenue of $347.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $339.10 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Otter Tail’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

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

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.