Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired 12,954 shares of Toro Company, valued at approximately $942,000, in the first quarter.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their positions in Toro, resulting in institutional investors holding 87.95% of Toro's stock.
• Toro recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 2.0% and a payout ratio of 38.97%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,954 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $942,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TTC. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Toro by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Financial Harvest LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Toro by 91.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 663 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Toro by 81.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 868 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Toro

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

Toro Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE TTC traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $74.34. 655,908 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,781. The business's 50 day moving average is $72.93 and its 200-day moving average is $74.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.81. Toro Company has a 12-month low of $62.34 and a 12-month high of $93.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price target on shares of Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average 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.