Norges Bank Buys Shares of 7,017,420 Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 7,017,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,883,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 41.0% during the third 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. boosted its position in Otis Worldwide by 58.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in Otis Worldwide by 699.5% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,033,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,705,000 after acquiring an additional 904,157 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Otis Worldwide by 274.2% in the 3rd 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 boosted its stake in shares of Otis Worldwide by 11.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,680,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,546,000 after acquiring an additional 391,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.03% of the company’s stock.

Otis Worldwide Price Performance

NYSE OTIS opened at $103.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.38 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $98.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.56. Otis Worldwide Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.12 and a fifty-two week high of $106.83.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.53% and a negative return on equity of 31.76%. On average, equities analysts expect that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Otis Worldwide announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, January 16th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Otis Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Otis Worldwide’s payout ratio is 38.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judith Fran Marks sold 38,012 shares of the company’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 $3,588,712.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 245,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,213,814.03. This represents a 13.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Montlivault Stephane De sold 6,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.30, for a total transaction of $701,298.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,731,934.30. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 112,281 shares of company stock valued at $10,747,553. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on OTIS. Wolfe Research lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Otis Worldwide from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.00.

Otis Worldwide Profile

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.