Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 158 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,361 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Toro were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TTC. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Toro by 0.4% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Toro by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,405,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in Toro by 1.4% during the 2nd 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. CWM LLC boosted its position in Toro by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Toro by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC stock opened at $81.88 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $86.25 and its 200 day moving average is $88.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.68. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $77.15 and a 52-week high of $102.00.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.