Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,685 shares of the company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Otis Worldwide in the third quarter valued at about $130,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Otis Worldwide by 3.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 87,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 7.2% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 69,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 4.1% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 121,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,582,000 after purchasing an additional 4,784 shares during the period. 88.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Otis Worldwide Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of OTIS opened at $94.44 on Friday. Otis Worldwide Co. has a 52 week low of $89.70 and a 52 week high of $106.83. The firm has a market cap of $37.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.98 and a 200-day moving average of $98.79.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.42%.

Otis Worldwide announced that its board has authorized 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 reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OTIS. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Otis Worldwide from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $105.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Otis Worldwide currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Otis Worldwide news, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 4,775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total value of $450,807.75. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,353,358.07. This trade represents a 16.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Montlivault Stephane De sold 6,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,281 shares of company stock valued at $10,747,553 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.