Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Holdings in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 20,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,776,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned about 0.05% of Otter Tail at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 108.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,525,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $471,577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,390,987 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,678,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,851,000 after purchasing an additional 128,872 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,494,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,006,000 after purchasing an additional 19,124 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,046,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $75,603,000 after purchasing an additional 8,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Otter Tail by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 996,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,310,000 after purchasing an additional 44,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Otter Tail Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ OTTR opened at $82.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.84. Otter Tail Co. has a 52-week low of $68.96 and a 52-week high of $99.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.32. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.56.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.03. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $314.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Otter Tail Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were given a $0.468 dividend. This is a boost from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

About Otter Tail

Otter Tail Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in electric utility, manufacturing, and plastic pipe businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric, Manufacturing, and Plastics. The Electric segment produces, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and operates as a participant in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator markets.