Vontobel Holding Ltd. Reduces Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,164 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,595 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Toro by 9.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,234,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,702,000 after acquiring an additional 903,088 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Toro by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,274,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,336,000 after purchasing an additional 207,532 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,378,000 after purchasing an additional 835,637 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,350,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,733,000 after purchasing an additional 12,777 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Toro by 2.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,675,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,308,000 after buying an additional 61,806 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $85.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $90.44 and its 200 day moving average is $88.80. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $78.35 and a 1-year high of $108.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TTC. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

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.