Toro Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TTC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities raised shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of TTC. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Toro in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Toro by 54.6% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 1.2 %

TTC opened at $73.16 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. Toro has a twelve month low of $71.23 and a twelve month high of $100.93. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.51.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

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.