The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Stake Cut by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 270,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 97,346 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.26% of Toro worth $23,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 3,202 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 32.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 29.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,405,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,532,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Toro stock opened at $88.32 on Friday. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $77.15 and a 1-year high of $102.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.80%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on TTC shares. DA Davidson lowered 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.33.

About Toro

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.