Values First Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Values First Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,216 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TTC. Durable Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the first quarter worth approximately $150,798,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Toro by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,067,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,233 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Toro during the fourth quarter worth $118,097,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 9.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,234,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,702,000 after buying an additional 903,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 25.0% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,378,000 after buying an additional 835,637 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded up $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $91.63. The stock had a trading volume of 629,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,214. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $78.35 and a 1 year high of $111.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.26. The company has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.44 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Toro from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.60.

Insider Activity at Toro

In related news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of Toro stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Toro Profile

The Toro Company designs, manufactures, markets, and sells professional turf maintenance equipment and services. It operates through two segments: Professional and Residential. The Professional segment offers turf and landscape equipment products, including sports fields and grounds mowing and maintenance equipment, golf course mowing and maintenance equipment, landscape contractor mowing equipment, landscape creation and renovation equipment, and other maintenance equipment; rental, specialty, and underground construction equipment, such as horizontal directional drills, walk and ride trenchers, stand-on skid steers, vacuum excavators, stump grinders, turf renovation products, asset locators, pipe rehabilitation solutions, materials handling equipment, and other after-market tools; and snow and ice management equipment, such as snowplows, as well as stand-on snow and ice removal equipment, such as snowplow, snow brush, and snow thrower attachments, salt and sand spreaders, and related parts and accessories for light and medium duty trucks, utility task vehicles, skid steers, and front-end loaders.