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

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

Otis Worldwide has raised its dividend payment by an average of 18.0% annually over the last three years. Otis Worldwide has a dividend payout ratio of 34.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Otis Worldwide to earn $4.10 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 38.0%.

Otis Worldwide Price Performance

OTIS stock traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $95.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,499,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,174,762. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.12 and a 200 day moving average of $97.19. Otis Worldwide has a 12 month low of $87.57 and a 12 month high of $106.33. The company has a market capitalization of $38.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 1.06.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.48% and a negative return on equity of 31.28%. Analysts anticipate that Otis Worldwide will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, January 16th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Abbe Luersman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $909,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,009,391.84. This trade represents a 47.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on OTIS. 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 note on Thursday. 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. Wolfe Research downgraded 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. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Otis Worldwide in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.