Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

TOL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Toll Brothers from $170.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 price target (down previously from $166.00) on shares of Toll Brothers in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Toll Brothers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Toll Brothers from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Toll Brothers from $189.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.57.

Toll Brothers Price Performance

TOL opened at $105.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $122.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.22. The company has a current ratio of 4.65, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Toll Brothers has a 12-month low of $102.49 and a 12-month high of $169.52. The firm has a market cap of $10.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.77.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.24). Toll Brothers had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 14.03%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Toll Brothers will post 13.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 11,140 shares of Toll Brothers stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total value of $1,404,419.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,599,311.26. The trade was a 35.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christine Garvey sold 420 shares of Toll Brothers stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.58, for a total value of $46,443.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,107.88. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,785 shares of company stock valued at $1,479,185. Corporate insiders own 1.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOL. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 22.2% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,569 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 59.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,950 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 18.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,827 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 3.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,054 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 133.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 53,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,269,000 after acquiring an additional 30,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.76% of the company’s stock.

Toll Brothers Company Profile

Toll Brothers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges finance for a range of detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities in the United States. It designs, builds, markets, and sells condominiums through Toll Brothers City Living. The company also develops a range of single-story living and first-floor primary bedroom suite home designs, as well as communities with recreational amenities, such as golf courses, marinas, pool complexes, country clubs, and fitness and recreation centers; and develops, operates, and rents apartments.