Everence Capital Management Inc. Makes New $208,000 Investment in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in Toro by 1.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,519,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,120,000 after purchasing an additional 88,536 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,766,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,673,000 after buying an additional 65,800 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after buying an additional 29,105 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Toro by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 901,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,279,000 after acquiring an additional 110,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 618,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,685,000 after acquiring an additional 64,660 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $79.23 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $77.15 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.84.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. Toro’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Toro announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 37.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.75.

Toro 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.