Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 23,869 Shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 280,918 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,869 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $26,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in OTIS. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Otis Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth $349,000. Montis Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 52,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,835,000 after purchasing an additional 8,474 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in Otis Worldwide by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 1,104,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,312,000 after purchasing an additional 84,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Otis Worldwide by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,910,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OTIS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research cut Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Otis Worldwide from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Otis Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.88.

Otis Worldwide Stock Performance

OTIS stock opened at $101.41 on Tuesday. Otis Worldwide Co. has a 52 week low of $90.12 and a 52 week high of $106.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.16. The company has a market capitalization of $40.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 1.05.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.02). Otis Worldwide had a net margin of 11.53% and a negative return on equity of 31.76%. On average, analysts forecast that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.42%.

Otis Worldwide announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, January 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 4,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total transaction of $450,807.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,353,358.07. The trade was a 16.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Peiming Zheng sold 32,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.43, for a total value of $3,119,988.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,127.67. This represents a 99.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 112,281 shares of company stock worth $10,747,553. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Otis Worldwide Company Profile

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.