Argent Trust Co Buys Shares of 3,939 The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Argent Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of TTC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Toro by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,565,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $968,083,000 after acquiring an additional 73,719 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,653,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $609,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332,248 shares during the period. Mairs & Power Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 3,225,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,620,000 after purchasing an additional 18,899 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Toro by 11.5% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,725,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,751,000 after purchasing an additional 280,855 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Toro by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,845,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,171,000 after buying an additional 783,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $84.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.38 and a 200-day moving average of $89.36. The firm has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56 and a beta of 0.69. 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 Toro Company has a twelve month low of $77.15 and a twelve month high of $102.00.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TTC shares. 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.33.

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.