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

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,709% compared to the typical daily volume of 65 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the third quarter worth $592,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Toro by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Toro by 79.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 7,798 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 27.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

Toro Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $69.28 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.45 and its 200 day moving average is $78.95. The stock has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a 52-week low of $62.34 and a 52-week high of $100.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

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.