Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 249,121 shares of the company’s stock after selling 107,090 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $21,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 25.0% in 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. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Toro by 37,332.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 470,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,034,000 after buying an additional 469,643 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 420,539 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 11,970.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,750,000 after acquiring an additional 389,752 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 11.5% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,725,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,751,000 after acquiring an additional 280,855 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Toro stock opened at $82.69 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.22. The stock has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.70 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 12-month low of $77.15 and a 12-month high of $102.00.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on TTC. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com raised Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.