29,200 Shares in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 29,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TTC. Durable Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 1st quarter worth approximately $150,798,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,067,162 shares of the company's stock worth $573,603,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,233 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $118,097,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Toro by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,234,812 shares of the company's stock worth $1,137,702,000 after acquiring an additional 903,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company's stock worth $347,378,000 after buying an additional 835,637 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $85.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 779,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,710. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.84. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $78.35 and a 1 year high of $108.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Toro's payout ratio is 52.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on TTC shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Toro from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. TheStreet upgraded Toro from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Toro from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.60.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.62% of the company's stock.

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.