StockNews.com Downgrades Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) to Sell

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

TOL has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Toll Brothers from $189.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Toll Brothers from $156.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Toll Brothers from $143.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Toll Brothers in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.57.

Toll Brothers Stock Performance

TOL stock opened at $109.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 4.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.72. Toll Brothers has a 52 week low of $102.49 and a 52 week high of $169.52.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by ($0.24). Toll Brothers had a net margin of 14.03% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Toll Brothers will post 13.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Toll Brothers

In other Toll Brothers news, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 11,140 shares of Toll Brothers stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total transaction of $1,404,419.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,618 shares in the company, valued at $2,599,311.26. The trade was a 35.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christine Garvey sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.58, for a total transaction of $46,443.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,107.88. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,764 shares of company stock worth $1,476,523. Company insiders own 1.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Toll Brothers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOL. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 50.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 23,775 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,673,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Toll Brothers by 57.9% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 180 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 135.3% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Toll Brothers by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,225 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Toll Brothers by 97.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,118,459 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $327,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.76% of the company’s stock.

About Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges finance for a range of detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities in the United States. It designs, builds, markets, and sells condominiums through Toll Brothers City Living. The company also develops a range of single-story living and first-floor primary bedroom suite home designs, as well as communities with recreational amenities, such as golf courses, marinas, pool complexes, country clubs, and fitness and recreation centers; and develops, operates, and rents apartments.