John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Makes New $250,000 Investment in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 4,836.6% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 14,800 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Otter Tail by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,238,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $452,607,000 after buying an additional 197,617 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Otter Tail during the 1st quarter valued at $271,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Otter Tail by 28.8% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the first quarter worth approximately $696,000. 61.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OTTR. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

NASDAQ OTTR opened at $80.58 on Friday. Otter Tail Co. has a 1 year low of $73.43 and a 1 year high of $100.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 0.52.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $338.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.20 million. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 22.70%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Otter Tail Co. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.468 per share. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.83%.

Otter Tail 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.