E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Increases Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 45.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,400 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in Toro were worth $513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 112.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 850.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 534.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 13.5% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC opened at $80.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The Toro Company has a one year low of $76.95 and a one year high of $100.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.28 and a 200 day moving average of $85.46.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Toro’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Toro announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James decreased their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

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.