Toro Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 1,176 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical daily volume of 65 put options.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $72.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00 and a beta of 0.70. Toro has a 52 week low of $71.50 and a 52 week high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TTC. PEAK6 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,248,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Toro by 6,995.4% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 74,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,418,000 after purchasing an additional 72,962 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Toro during the third quarter worth $1,261,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 101.6% in the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 13,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Toro by 294.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 18,401 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TTC. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.