Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,620 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,673 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in Toro were worth $4,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sonen Capital LLC bought a new stake in Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $256,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Toro by 8.0% in the fourth 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. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Toro by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 66,697 shares of the company's stock worth $6,402,000 after acquiring an additional 1,447 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 79.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, 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. 1.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded down $1.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $87.42. 985,775 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 712,021. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $78.35 and a 1 year high of $108.50. The company has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.21.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Toro's revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TTC. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Toro from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. One 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, Toro currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.60.

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.