Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Raises Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 108.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 166,847 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 86,782 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.17% of Toro worth $13,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Toro by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,199,920 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Toro by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,123,000 after acquiring an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Toro by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company's stock worth $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,152,000 after purchasing an additional 164,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Toro by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,081,782 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,651,000 after buying an additional 291,593 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Toro stock traded down $0.58 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.32. The company had a trading volume of 381,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,090. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $70.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.33. The Toro Company has a 52 week low of $62.34 and a 52 week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 0.83.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Toro's payout ratio is 38.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on TTC shares. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Securities raised Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Northland Capmk raised Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three investment 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.75.

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.