Sylvest Advisors LLC Invests $514,000 in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Sylvest Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Toro by 195.7% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Toro by 81.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 868 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Toro by 54.6% in the fourth 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. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,062 shares in the company, valued at $2,411,930.22. This represents a 12.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $71.01. 615,161 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 939,755. The business's fifty day moving average price is $71.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.86. The company has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Toro Company has a 12-month low of $62.34 and a 12-month high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on TTC. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price target on shares of Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Northland Capmk lowered Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.75.

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.