The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Short Interest Update

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a decline of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 4,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TTC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

Toro Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $72.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.54 and a 200 day moving average of $81.82. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a 12-month low of $71.23 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. 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 2.10%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 127.2% during the fourth 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 period. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Toro by 30.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Toro by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.