Willis Investment Counsel Has $643,000 Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 94.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,843 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,295 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Toro were worth $643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Toro by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,934 shares of the company's stock worth $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 13,373 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,435 shares of the company's stock worth $4,601,000 after buying an additional 14,433 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Toro by 111.4% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company's stock worth $4,161,000 after buying an additional 27,376 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Toro by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,123,000 after acquiring an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in Toro by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd now owns 77,756 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,228,000 after acquiring an additional 32,661 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Trading Down 3.6%

TTC stock traded down $2.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $67.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,006,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 937,596. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $62.34 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company's 50-day moving average price is $71.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.91.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Toro's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. The trade was a 12.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TTC. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report 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. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Toro currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.75.

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.