The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Position Boosted by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,366 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TTC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.33.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $86.18 on Wednesday. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $77.15 and a 52-week high of $102.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted 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 return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Toro’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

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.