Slow Capital Inc. Sells 660 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Slow Capital Inc. lowered its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock after selling 660 shares during the quarter. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James lowered their target price 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of TTC opened at $87.20 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.08. The company has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.75 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $76.95 and a twelve month high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its 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 previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Company 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.