Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $90.32 and last traded at $90.13, with a volume of 150100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.28.

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

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $0.5775 dividend. This is an increase from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OTTR. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Otter Tail during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,046,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Otter Tail during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,143,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the 2nd quarter worth $4,602,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Otter Tail in the 3rd quarter worth $1,310,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Otter Tail by 77.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

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.