CCM Investment Group LLC Buys New Stake in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Key Points

• CCM Investment Group LLC acquired 5,696 shares of Toro Company (NYSE:TTC), valued at approximately $415,000, during the first quarter, indicating renewed interest from institutional investors.
• Toro's stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $82.75, following various analysts adjusting their ratings and price objectives recently.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, which contributes to an annualized yield of 2.1%, reflecting the company's ongoing return of value to shareholders.

CCM Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Toro by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,495,037 shares of the company's stock valued at $763,514,000 after buying an additional 169,865 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,199,920 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Toro by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company's stock worth $88,152,000 after buying an additional 164,069 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Toro by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,081,782 shares of the company's stock worth $86,651,000 after buying an additional 291,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,077,753 shares of the company's stock worth $78,407,000 after purchasing an additional 33,920 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson set a $76.00 target price on Toro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $80.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Northland Capmk cut Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $82.75.

Toro Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded up $2.52 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.31. 777,485 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 586,686. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Toro Company has a 1 year low of $62.34 and a 1 year high of $93.00. The firm has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 0.80. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $72.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.91.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.99%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's dividend payout ratio is 38.97%.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In other news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value of $425,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $826,749.54. This represents a 34.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the sale, the director directly owned 34,062 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. This represents a 12.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

About Toro

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.