Toro Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Toro by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,519,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,120,000 after buying an additional 88,536 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.4% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,766,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,673,000 after purchasing an additional 65,800 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Toro by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after purchasing an additional 29,105 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Toro by 13.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 901,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,279,000 after purchasing an additional 110,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Toro by 11.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 618,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,660 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE TTC opened at $79.23 on Friday. Toro has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $83.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.91%.

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.