The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a decline of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 4,650,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TTC. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

Toro Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $72.51 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.82. Toro has a 52-week low of $71.23 and a 52-week high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Toro by 54.6% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.