Otis Worldwide Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.39 (NYSE:OTIS)

Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.39 per share on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%.

Otis Worldwide has increased its dividend payment by an average of 18.0% per year over the last three years. Otis Worldwide has a payout ratio of 34.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Otis Worldwide to earn $4.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.7%.

Otis Worldwide Stock Performance

NYSE:OTIS opened at $95.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.02 and its 200-day moving average is $97.18. The company has a market cap of $38.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50 and a beta of 1.06. Otis Worldwide has a 52-week low of $87.57 and a 52-week high of $106.33.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.02). Otis Worldwide had a net margin of 11.53% and a negative return on equity of 31.57%. Equities analysts predict that Otis Worldwide will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, January 16th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Otis Worldwide news, EVP Abbe Luersman sold 9,000 shares of Otis Worldwide stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total value of $909,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,009,391.84. The trade was a 47.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on OTIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Otis Worldwide from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research downgraded Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Otis Worldwide in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Otis Worldwide currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.88.

About Otis Worldwide

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.