Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,325,172 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,864 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.26% of Toro worth $827,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Toro in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,248,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 6,995.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 74,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,418,000 after acquiring an additional 72,962 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in Toro by 101.6% in the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 13,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,550 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Toro by 294.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 18,401 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Toro by 111.4% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,161,000 after purchasing an additional 27,376 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TTC. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given 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 Stock Performance

Toro stock opened at $73.29 on Friday. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $71.23 and a twelve month high of $100.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.00 and its 200 day moving average is $81.97.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Toro announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.