Wedbush Securities Inc. Boosts Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,986 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TTC. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Toro by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,639,000 after buying an additional 29,105 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Toro by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,123,000 after acquiring an additional 60,068 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in Toro by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in Toro by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,043,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,611,000 after purchasing an additional 36,750 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Toro by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 799,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,031,000 after purchasing an additional 24,596 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $64.45 on Tuesday. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $62.73 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $77.10 and a 200 day moving average of $81.32. The company has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on TTC. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

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.