The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Short Interest Update

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,380,000 shares, a decrease of 17.0% from the August 31st total of 6,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 919,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.9 days. Approximately 5.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.33.

Toro Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $86.65. 757,606 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 888,940. Toro has a twelve month low of $77.15 and a twelve month high of $102.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.25 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.25 and a 200 day moving average of $89.21.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid 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 1.66%. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 56.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Toro by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,405,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Toro by 1.4% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Toro by 22.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 908 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 1,204.8% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 274 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Company 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.