The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Holdings Cut by S.A. Mason LLC

S.A. Mason LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,053 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,774 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Toro by 112.1% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Toro by 850.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 765 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Toro by 534.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James dropped their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of Toro stock opened at $83.30 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.73. 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 Toro Company has a one year low of $76.95 and a one year high of $100.93. The company has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.