JLB & Associates Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

JLB & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 179,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,670 shares during the quarter. Toro comprises about 2.0% of JLB & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. JLB & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $14,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $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 valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in Toro by 850.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in Toro by 15.5% in 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. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 534.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE TTC opened at $81.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.42. The Toro Company has a one year low of $76.95 and a one year high of $100.93.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James dropped their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.75.

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.