Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,164 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,595 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Toro by 135.9% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in Toro during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In related news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $85.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $90.44 and its 200 day moving average is $88.80. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $78.35 and a 52-week high of $108.50.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. Toro’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TTC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. TheStreet raised Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

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.