Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Toro Put Options (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Toro by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 24,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,973,000 after acquiring an additional 10,383 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Toro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Toro by 27.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,409 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 79.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,468,000 after buying an additional 3,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE:TTC opened at $79.23 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a fifty-two week low of $77.15 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Toro will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 37.91%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toro currently has an average 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.