The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Bought by Kennedy Capital Management LLC

Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 20.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 138,568 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,270 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $12,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TTC. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 1,204.8% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 2,057.1% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Toro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Price Performance

Toro stock traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.90. 856,401 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 895,887. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.10 and a 200 day moving average of $90.65. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $77.15 and a 1-year high of $104.70. The company has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a PE ratio of 37.86 and a beta of 0.69.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.11. Toro had a return on equity of 25.04% and a net margin of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.19, for a total value of $1,903,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,913 shares in the company, valued at $1,705,138.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Toro from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

About Toro

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.