Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 793 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 793 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TTC. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Toro by 0.8% during the 4th 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 raised its position in Toro by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 5.4% in the 4th 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 TTC opened at $74.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 0.70. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $71.23 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.19.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

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.