Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 14,261 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 456.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,388 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,261 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Toro were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TTC. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Toro by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,934 shares of the company's stock worth $4,240,000 after acquiring an additional 13,373 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,435 shares of the company's stock worth $4,601,000 after acquiring an additional 14,433 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 111.4% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,161,000 after buying an additional 27,376 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Toro by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock worth $95,123,000 after purchasing an additional 60,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 72.4% during the 4th quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd now owns 77,756 shares of the company's stock worth $6,228,000 after acquiring an additional 32,661 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of Toro stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.71. 827,973 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 946,413. The company has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $62.34 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $70.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.20.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. Toro's payout ratio is currently 38.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Northland Capmk downgraded Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $80.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Toro from $80.00 to $76.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.75.

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.