Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Holdings in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,280 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,088 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $2,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OTIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Otis Worldwide by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,076,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,918,223,000 after buying an additional 8,161,946 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,349,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $774,863,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,871 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 3,673.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,261,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,201,988 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 699.5% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,033,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,705,000 after purchasing an additional 904,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 274.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 714,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,250,000 after purchasing an additional 523,518 shares during the last quarter. 88.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Otis Worldwide news, EVP Abbe Luersman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $909,180.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,009,391.84. This represents a 47.39 % 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. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on OTIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $112.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research cut Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Otis Worldwide from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Otis Worldwide in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 price target for the company. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.88.

Otis Worldwide Stock Up 1.1 %

Otis Worldwide stock opened at $97.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37 and a beta of 1.06. Otis Worldwide Co. has a 52 week low of $87.57 and a 52 week high of $106.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $96.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.24.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. Otis Worldwide had a negative return on equity of 31.28% and a net margin of 11.48%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, January 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.90%.

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.