Short Interest in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) Declines By 31.0%

Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) was the target of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,980,000 shares, a decline of 31.0% from the May 31st total of 7,220,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,950,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Peiming Zheng sold 30,364 shares of Otis Worldwide stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.69, for a total transaction of $2,844,803.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,753.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Otis Worldwide

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 0.3% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 32,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,181,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in Otis Worldwide by 4.6% in the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC grew its position in Otis Worldwide by 4.1% in the first quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in Otis Worldwide by 1.2% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 9,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Otis Worldwide by 0.9% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 12,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 88.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OTIS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Otis Worldwide in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $102.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.33.

Otis Worldwide Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of OTIS traded up $0.26 on Friday, reaching $96.26. 4,754,345 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,050,717. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.82 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.90. Otis Worldwide has a 12 month low of $73.32 and a 12 month high of $100.84.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.44 billion. Otis Worldwide had a net margin of 9.99% and a negative return on equity of 31.02%. Equities research analysts predict that Otis Worldwide will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Otis Worldwide’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.09%.

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.