Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,199 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TTC. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 133.3% during the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 779,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,703,000 after acquiring an additional 445,287 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the first quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 9.1% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 87.5% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,306,000 after acquiring an additional 21,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 94.4% during the first quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 8,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 4,295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TTC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Capmk cut Toro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at $2,411,930.22. This trade represents a 12.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value of $425,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $826,749.54. This represents a 34.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $74.54 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $72.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.81. Toro Company has a 52-week low of $62.34 and a 52-week high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 8.77%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.97%.

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.