Toro Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

Key Points

• Traders purchased 1,176 put options for Toro Company (NYSE:TTC), marking a staggering increase of 1,709% compared to its average daily volume of 65 options.
• Toro's stock opened at $80.62 and has a market cap of $7.96 billion, with notable fluctuations including a 1-year low of $62.34 and a high of $92.81.
• Recent insider activity saw Director Gary Lee Ellis selling 5,038 shares at an average price of $70.81, reducing his stake by 12.88%.

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 1,176 put options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Toro Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $81.68. 954,101 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 877,418. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.81. Toro has a 52-week low of $62.34 and a 52-week high of $89.50. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $76.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.66. The company has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75 and a beta of 0.80.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.02. Toro had a return on equity of 28.55% and a net margin of 7.37%.The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Toro's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Toro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.150 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. This represents a 12.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value of $425,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,749.54. This trade represents a 34.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 169,865 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Toro by 16.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 8,187,609 shares of the company's stock worth $595,649,000 after buying an additional 1,156,314 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Toro by 1,184.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,963,253 shares of the company's stock worth $142,827,000 after buying an additional 1,810,429 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Toro by 39.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,760 shares of the company's stock worth $111,654,000 after buying an additional 434,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in Toro by 3.2% during the first quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,077,753 shares of the company's stock worth $78,407,000 after buying an additional 33,920 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Toro from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Northland Capmk lowered Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Toro from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $90.60.

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.