The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Stake Increased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,840 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Toro by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Toro by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $74.39 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $79.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.19. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 0.70. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $71.23 and a 12 month high of $100.93.

Toro declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TTC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

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.