Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Grows Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 600,626 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174,545 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.58% of Toro worth $56,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 8,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $103,785,000. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 72,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 12,602 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 542,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,052,000 after buying an additional 140,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,536,000. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $84.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.34. The Toro Company has a 52 week low of $77.15 and a 52 week high of $102.00. The stock has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 33.56 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 56.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.