Champlain Investment Partners LLC Reduces Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC trimmed its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,676,681 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,920 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $145,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Toro by 112.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in Toro by 850.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Toro by 22.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Toro by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Toro during the 2nd quarter worth about $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on TTC shares. StockNews.com raised Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.33.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $85.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.97. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $102.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

Toro Company 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.