Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) to Repurchase $2.00 billion in Shares

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, January 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Otis Worldwide in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $113.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Otis Worldwide from $112.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Otis Worldwide in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Otis Worldwide from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.88.

Otis Worldwide Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of OTIS opened at $93.19 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.06 and a 200-day moving average of $97.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24 and a beta of 1.06. Otis Worldwide has a twelve month low of $85.42 and a twelve month high of $106.33.

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

Otis Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Otis Worldwide’s payout ratio is 38.90%.

Insider Activity at Otis Worldwide

In other news, EVP Abbe Luersman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $909,180.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,009,391.84. This trade represents a 47.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.