The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $93.75.

TTC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James cut their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Toro by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Toro by 54.6% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Stock Down 2.6 %

TTC stock opened at $75.44 on Wednesday. Toro has a fifty-two week low of $74.51 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.40 and a 200-day moving average of $83.90. The company has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.91%.

Toro declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.