Impax Asset Management Group plc Reduces Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 195.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Toro by 534.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its position in Toro by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of TTC stock opened at $81.27 on Wednesday. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $76.95 and a 1 year high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.15. The company has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Raymond James dropped their price target on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

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.