Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. Invests $1.54 Million in Toro Company (The) $TTC

Key Points

• Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. has acquired a new stake in Toro Company, purchasing 21,200 shares valued at approximately $1.54 million during the first quarter.
• Multiple hedge funds, including Kayne Anderson Rudnick and Boston Trust Walden Corp, have significantly increased their holdings in Toro, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings on Toro, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.75, down from previous estimates.

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,542,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Toro by 8.2% in the first quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 12,064 shares of the company's stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Toro by 324.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 131,485 shares of the company's stock worth $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 100,487 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Toro by 176.0% in the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 59,735 shares of the company's stock worth $4,346,000 after purchasing an additional 38,088 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 39.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,654,000 after acquiring an additional 434,257 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Toro during the first quarter valued at $1,405,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Capmk cut Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $76.00 price objective on Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $82.75.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. The trade was a 12.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value of $425,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,749.54. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Toro Trading Up 1.7%

TTC stock traded up $1.3050 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.0050. The stock had a trading volume of 538,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 671,795. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.80. Toro Company has a twelve month low of $62.34 and a twelve month high of $93.00.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 8.77%.The company's revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Toro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.300 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.