Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Cuts Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lowered its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,175 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Toro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Toro by 195.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 15.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 534.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE TTC opened at $79.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $76.95 and a 1 year high of $100.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $81.74 and its 200 day moving average is $84.34.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. Toro’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

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.