Toll Brothers Inc. $TOL Stock Position Reduced by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Toll Brothers stake by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 40,957 shares and leaving it with 156,738 shares worth about $21.2 million.
• Toll Brothers reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 versus the $2.58 estimate and revenue of $2.53 billion versus $2.42 billion expected, even though revenue fell 7.6% year over year.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $163.81; the stock also recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.26 per share.

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL - Free Report) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,738 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 40,957 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.17% of Toll Brothers worth $21,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Toll Brothers by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the construction company's stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toll Brothers by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 20,568 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Toll Brothers by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,200 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in Toll Brothers by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 26,685 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,633,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its position in Toll Brothers by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 2,062 shares of the construction company's stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 91.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TOL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Toll Brothers from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Toll Brothers from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Toll Brothers from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $198.00 to $187.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $163.81.

Toll Brothers Stock Performance

NYSE:TOL opened at $138.67 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $137.80 and its 200-day moving average is $141.79. The company has a market cap of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 4.67. Toll Brothers Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.92 and a 52-week high of $168.36.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The construction company reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.14. Toll Brothers had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 11.66%.The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Toll Brothers Inc. will post 12.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Toll Brothers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Toll Brothers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. Toll Brothers's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen F. East sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.70, for a total value of $139,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,847.40. This represents a 6.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc is a publicly traded homebuilding company that focuses on designing and constructing luxury residential properties. The company's core business encompasses a broad range of housing products, including custom single-family homes, upscale condominium communities and rental apartment ventures. Toll Brothers emphasizes high-end finishes and architectural craftsmanship, positioning itself in the premium segment of the U.S. housing market.

In addition to traditional homebuilding, Toll Brothers operates specialized divisions to address evolving consumer preferences.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TOL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.