Swiss National Bank Reduces Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 323,900 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of Toro worth $31,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the company's stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,573,000. Sonen Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 59,877 shares of the company's stock worth $5,748,000 after acquiring an additional 4,411 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Up 2.0 %

Toro stock traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $88.75. The company had a trading volume of 823,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,888. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm's fifty day moving average is $88.43 and its 200-day moving average is $89.12. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $78.35 and a fifty-two week high of $108.50.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on TTC shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.60.

Insider Transactions at Toro

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

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.