Toro Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 1,176 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the average daily volume of 65 put options.

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 on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Toro Stock Down 0.8 %

TTC stock opened at $80.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Toro has a 52 week low of $76.95 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.46.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.91%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Toro

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TTC. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 195.7% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Toro by 112.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 54.6% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 850.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.