Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $16.85 Million Stock Holdings in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,542 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,637 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Toro worth $16,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 45.5% during the fourth 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,152,000 after acquiring an additional 164,069 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Toro by 36.9% in 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. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,024,721 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,080,000 after buying an additional 87,926 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in Toro by 133.3% in the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 779,419 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,703,000 after buying an additional 445,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of Toro stock opened at $75.09 on Friday. Toro Company has a 1 year low of $62.34 and a 1 year high of $100.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.06. The company has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.81. 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 (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 8.77%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Toro's payout ratio is presently 38.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities reissued 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. Robert W. Baird increased 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 lowered Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $82.75.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In related news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total transaction of $425,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $826,749.54. This trade represents a 34.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 12.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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