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

Key Points

• Toro (NYSE:TTC) experienced a significant spike in options trading with a 1,709% increase in put options, totaling 1,176 contracts purchased.
• Wall Street analysts show a mixed sentiment, with price targets ranging from $76.00 to $90.00, and an overall average rating of "Hold" for Toro stock.
• The company's latest earnings report surpassed expectations with $1.42 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.40, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 2.3%.

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 1,176 put options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately1,709% compared to the average daily volume of 65 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Northland Capmk lowered shares of Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price target on shares of Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.75.

Toro Price Performance

Toro stock opened at $76.1050 on Thursday. Toro has a 52-week low of $62.34 and a 52-week high of $93.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm's fifty day moving average is $73.42 and its 200 day moving average is $73.64. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51 and a beta of 0.80.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. Toro had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Toro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Toro

In other news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president owned 11,646 shares in the company, valued at $826,749.54. This represents a 34.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of Toro 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 transaction, the director owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at $2,411,930.22. This represents a 12.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 597.6% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 3,508 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Toro by 17.6% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 112,835 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,975,000 after acquiring an additional 16,854 shares during the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Toro by 93.9% in the second quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 17,145 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 8,302 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Toro in the second quarter valued at $85,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 124.1% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,154 shares of the company's stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

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.