United Services Automobile Association Lowers Stake in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

United Services Automobile Association trimmed its position in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 57,371 shares of the company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the quarter. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $5,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of OTIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Otis Worldwide by 41.0% in the 3rd 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. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Otis Worldwide by 58.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,349,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $774,863,000 after buying an additional 2,706,871 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 699.5% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,033,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,705,000 after buying an additional 904,157 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 274.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 714,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,250,000 after buying an additional 523,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Otis Worldwide by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,680,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,546,000 after acquiring an additional 391,206 shares in the last quarter. 88.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on OTIS. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Otis Worldwide from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Otis Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Otis Worldwide

In related news, CEO Judith Fran Marks sold 38,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total transaction of $3,588,712.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 245,883 shares in the company, valued at $23,213,814.03. The trade was a 13.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Montlivault Stephane De sold 6,660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.30, for a total value of $701,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,931 shares in the company, valued at $6,731,934.30. This 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 worth $10,747,553 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Otis Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of OTIS stock opened at $100.97 on Monday. The stock 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 50-day simple moving average is $97.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.36.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders 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 1.54%. Otis Worldwide’s payout ratio is 38.42%.

Otis Worldwide announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, January 16th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.