Brokerages Set The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Price Target at $93.75

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the four brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $93.75.

Separately, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.6% in 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 period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in Toro by 1.4% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 29,105 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $82.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.24 and its 200-day moving average is $86.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a 1 year low of $76.95 and a 1 year high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Toro will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 37.91%.

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.