Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) EVP Peiming Zheng Sells 32,694 Shares

Otis Worldwide Co. (NYSE:OTIS) EVP Peiming Zheng sold 32,694 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.43, for a total value of $3,119,988.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,127.67. This represents a 99.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Otis Worldwide Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of OTIS stock opened at $95.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.04. Otis Worldwide Co. has a 52 week low of $89.37 and a 52 week high of $106.33.

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Otis Worldwide Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Otis Worldwide Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Otis Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.42%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Otis Worldwide by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Optas LLC grew its holdings in Otis Worldwide by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in Otis Worldwide by 4.4% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Otis Worldwide by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of Otis Worldwide by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. 88.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OTIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on Otis Worldwide in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 target price on the stock. 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Otis Worldwide from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Otis Worldwide from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Otis Worldwide currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.88.

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.