Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 29,105 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $169,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 14.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 30,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,638,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Toro by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd grew its holdings in Toro by 82.2% during the 3rd quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 5,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 2,491 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Toro by 2.6% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 77,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,571,000 after buying an additional 1,990 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 71.2% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 217,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,885,000 after buying an additional 90,538 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $88.32 on Monday. The Toro Company has a one year low of $77.15 and a one year high of $102.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.02. The stock has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Toro declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TTC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.33.

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.