Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Toro (NYSE:TTC)

Key Points

• On Wednesday, Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) experienced a significant spike in put options trading, with 1,176 put options purchased, representing an increase of 1,709% from the average volume.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.24 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, though its revenue declined 2.2% year-over-year to $1.13 billion.
• Toro has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, which will be paid on October 21st, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.0%.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TTC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 87.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,306,000 after buying an additional 21,214 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro during the 1st quarter valued at $217,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 133.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 779,419 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,703,000 after buying an additional 445,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:TTC opened at $74.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Toro has a 1-year low of $62.34 and a 1-year high of $89.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.84.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.02. Toro had a return on equity of 28.98% 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 quarter last year, the company posted $1.18 EPS. Toro's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Toro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TTC. Northland Securities raised their target price on Toro from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Longbow Research raised Toro from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Toro in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Toro from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.60.

About Toro

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.