Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.47

Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 5th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.468 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th.

Otter Tail has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Otter Tail has a payout ratio of 38.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Otter Tail to earn $4.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.87 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.7%.

Otter Tail Price Performance

Shares of OTTR traded down $1.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.14. 45,594 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 224,382. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.40. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.55. Otter Tail has a 52-week low of $68.96 and a 52-week high of $100.84.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.38. Otter Tail had a net margin of 22.55% and a return on equity of 21.58%. The company had revenue of $342.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $367.71 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Otter Tail will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Paul L. Knutson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.66, for a total transaction of $362,640.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,746.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Otter Tail Company Profile

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.