Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Purchases 32,598 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,748 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,598 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Toro were worth $26,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Toro during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Toro by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 285 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TTC. StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC stock opened at $73.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.00 and its 200 day moving average is $81.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $71.23 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 0.70.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro 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.