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

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 1,176 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TTC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.33.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $86.90 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.92. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.62 and a beta of 0.69. Toro has a 1-year low of $77.15 and a 1-year high of $102.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Toro’s payout ratio is 37.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in Toro by 1.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,519,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,120,000 after acquiring an additional 88,536 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,766,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,673,000 after purchasing an additional 65,800 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after buying an additional 29,105 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Toro by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 901,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,279,000 after buying an additional 110,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 11.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 618,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,685,000 after buying an additional 64,660 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Toro

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.