South Dakota Investment Council Invests $371,000 in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in shares of Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of TTC. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Toro by 45.5% in 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 buying an additional 2,199,920 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Toro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,561,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings 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. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Toro by 411.3% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 464,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,215,000 after buying an additional 373,736 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In related 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 transaction, the vice president owned 11,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $826,749.54. This represents a 34.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the transaction, the director 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. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price 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. Northland Capmk downgraded shares of Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson set a $76.00 target price on shares of Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.75.

Toro Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of TTC stock traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.45. 189,923 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 996,789. The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.70. 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 52 week low of $62.34 and a 52 week high of $98.61. The company has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.81.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.99%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's dividend payout ratio is 38.97%.

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.