Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $95.09 and last traded at $94.6250, with a volume of 74044 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $92.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on OTTR. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Otter Tail from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research cut Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.40.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.15. Otter Tail had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm had revenue of $334.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Otter Tail has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.680-6.080 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.5775 per share. This represents a $2.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OTTR. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Otter Tail by 217.6% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,390,000 after acquiring an additional 367,869 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 786.4% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 56,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 49,891 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 86.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 11,850 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Otter Tail in the second quarter valued at $7,778,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Otter Tail by 30.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 178,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,637,000 after purchasing an additional 41,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.