Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 28,405 Shares of Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,298,514 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,405 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Otis Worldwide were worth $120,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of OTIS. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Otis Worldwide by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,402,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,435,000 after purchasing an additional 155,670 shares during the period. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Otis Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth $1,142,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,035,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,885,000 after buying an additional 16,822 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Otis Worldwide during the fourth quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Otis Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth about $649,883,000. 88.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Otis Worldwide Stock Down 0.9 %

Otis Worldwide stock opened at $102.08 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.72. Otis Worldwide Co. has a twelve month low of $90.12 and a twelve month high of $106.83. The company has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14 and a beta of 1.05.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio is 38.42%.

Otis Worldwide announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OTIS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Otis Worldwide from $108.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Otis Worldwide from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Otis Worldwide has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Peiming Zheng sold 32,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.43, for a total value of $3,119,988.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,127.67. This represents a 99.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nora E. Lafreniere sold 4,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total transaction of $450,807.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 112,281 shares of company stock valued at $10,747,553 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.