The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd cut its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 35.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,146 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Toro were worth $878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $103,785,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 25.0% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,378,000 after purchasing an additional 835,637 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Toro by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,061,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,246,000 after buying an additional 757,641 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Toro by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,209,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,528,000 after purchasing an additional 204,542 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Toro by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 542,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,052,000 after buying an additional 140,096 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.75.

Insider Activity

In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TTC traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $83.23. 1,310,172 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 828,397. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $78.35 and a 52-week high of $106.68. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of 30.38 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.55%.

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.