First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 264.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 211,849 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 153,730 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.21% of Toro worth $16,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,298 shares of the company's stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Toro by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company's stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of TTC stock traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $68.27. 926,734 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 974,728. The company has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $62.34 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The stock's 50 day moving average is $71.90 and its 200-day moving average is $79.12.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Toro's payout ratio is 38.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.75.

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.