Principal Securities Inc. Takes Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $248,000. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $263,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 641,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,587,000 after buying an additional 26,708 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 230.7% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 6,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $377,000. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $83.09 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $88.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.58. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $78.35 and a fifty-two week high of $106.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 52.55%.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In other news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the transaction, 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 available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Toro 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.