Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Siebert Williams Shank cut shares of Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Otter Tail presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Otter Tail stock opened at $87.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.03. Otter Tail has a 1 year low of $74.15 and a 1 year high of $92.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.47.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.31. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 15.21%. The firm had revenue of $347.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $339.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Otter Tail will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Otter Tail

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OTTR. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Otter Tail during the third quarter worth $1,115,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 77.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,633,000 after buying an additional 264,009 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 17.8% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $120,054,000 after buying an additional 221,039 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 27.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 182,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,926,000 after buying an additional 39,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 183.2% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 169,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,859,000 after buying an additional 109,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Otter Tail Company 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.