The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Purchased by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,268 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TTC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Toro by 682.7% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 482,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,085,000 after purchasing an additional 420,539 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 11,970.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,750,000 after purchasing an additional 389,752 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,146,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,166,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Toro by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 901,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,279,000 after purchasing an additional 110,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $84.51 on Wednesday. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $76.95 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.14 and a 200 day moving average of $86.17.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 37.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James dropped their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.