Sciencast Management LP Invests $2.66 Million in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 28,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 183,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,123,000 after purchasing an additional 18,536 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 11.1% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 49,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,111,000 after purchasing an additional 4,918 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,002,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,054,000 after purchasing an additional 121,322 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 41.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,076,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,918,223,000 after purchasing an additional 8,161,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Otis Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at $337,000. 88.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Montlivault Stephane De sold 6,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.30, for a total value of $701,298.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 4,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total value of $450,807.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,353,358.07. This represents a 16.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Otis Worldwide Price Performance

Otis Worldwide stock opened at $100.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87 and a beta of 1.05. Otis Worldwide Co. has a one year low of $90.12 and a one year high of $106.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $97.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.31.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Otis Worldwide Dividend Announcement

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

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

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.