Thematics Asset Management Acquires 26,000 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Thematics Asset Management boosted its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 151,473 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management owned approximately 0.15% of Toro worth $13,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Toro by 59.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 55,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,824,000 after acquiring an additional 20,783 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 24,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,131,000 after purchasing an additional 8,986 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 298,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,859,000 after purchasing an additional 71,431 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its position in shares of Toro by 82.0% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 55,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,833,000 after buying an additional 25,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 6.8% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Price Performance

Toro stock traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $86.55. 36,950 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 858,897. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $77.15 and a 1-year high of $102.00. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $83.90 and a 200 day moving average of $87.93. The company has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TTC shares. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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 for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.