Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Toro Put Options (NYSE:TTC)

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the average volume of 65 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in Toro during the third quarter worth $42,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $85,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Toro in the 3rd quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Toro in the 3rd quarter valued at about $119,000. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $89.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $77.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Toro has a one year low of $62.34 and a one year high of $90.19.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 17th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Toro had a return on equity of 28.90% and a net margin of 7.01%.The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Toro’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Toro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.350-4.50 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 49.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Toro in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.20.

About Toro

The Toro Company (NYSE: TTC) specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of a broad range of outdoor environment equipment for residential, commercial and professional markets. Its product portfolio includes lawn mowers, utility vehicles, snow throwers, irrigation systems and landscape maintenance equipment. Toro’s offerings span walk-behind and ride-on mowers, zero-turn radius mowers, snow blowers, sprinklers, drip irrigation products, spreaders and specialty turf maintenance machines tailored to golf courses, sports fields and municipal parks.

Founded in 1914 and headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, Toro has built a century-long legacy of innovation in the grounds-care industry.