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

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TTC. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,207,000 after buying an additional 2,199,920 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 996,664.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 498,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,410,000 after acquiring an additional 498,332 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,561,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Toro by 411.3% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 464,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,215,000 after purchasing an additional 373,736 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 693.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 414,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,238,000 after purchasing an additional 362,634 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $74.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $81.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.70. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a fifty-two week low of $72.18 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current 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 boost 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 2.05%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

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

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.