Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,542 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,637 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Toro worth $16,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 30.2% during the 4th 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. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Toro by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,199 shares of the company's stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Toro by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,396 shares of the company's stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

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

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC traded down $1.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 502,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 924,317. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.97. Toro Company has a one year low of $62.34 and a one year high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's payout ratio is 38.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on TTC shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Northland Capmk cut shares of Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.