Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Toro (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Toro Stock Performance

TTC traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.59. 1,075,156 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,242. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.58. Toro has a 12 month low of $62.34 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60 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.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,495,037 shares of the company's stock worth $763,514,000 after purchasing an additional 169,865 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 16.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 8,187,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $595,649,000 after buying an additional 1,156,314 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 1,184.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,963,253 shares of the company's stock valued at $142,827,000 after buying an additional 1,810,429 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Toro by 39.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,654,000 after buying an additional 434,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 60,068 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Toro Company 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.