Toro (NYSE:TTC) Shares Up 4.2% – Should You Buy?

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was up 4.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $76.33 and last traded at $76.32. Approximately 293,436 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 897,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.75.

Toro Trading Up 4.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.94 and a 200-day moving average of $83.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Toro

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TTC. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,199,920 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after acquiring an additional 29,105 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Toro by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,123,000 after purchasing an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Toro by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Toro by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,152,000 after purchasing an additional 164,069 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.