Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,325,172 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,864 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Toro worth $827,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after acquiring an additional 29,105 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Toro by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,123,000 after purchasing an additional 60,068 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Toro by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in Toro by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,043,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,611,000 after buying an additional 36,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 799,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,031,000 after buying an additional 24,596 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $73.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.00 and a 200 day moving average of $81.97. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 0.70. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $71.23 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

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.