First Eagle Investment Management LLC Acquires 8,474 Shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,203 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,474 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $4,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. 88.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on OTIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price 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 target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.88.

Otis Worldwide Trading Up 1.1 %

OTIS opened at $100.69 on Friday. Otis Worldwide Co. has a 12-month low of $90.12 and a 12-month high of $106.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.93 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.08.

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

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.42%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 1,700 shares of Otis Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.91, for a total transaction of $163,047.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,390,748.57. The trade was a 6.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Montlivault Stephane De sold 6,660 shares of Otis Worldwide stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.30, for a total transaction of $701,298.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,731,934.30. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,281 shares of company stock valued at $10,747,553 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.