Toro (NYSE:TTC) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $71.50 and last traded at $71.98, with a volume of 367222 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on TTC. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Toro Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.51.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 195.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

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.