Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Raises Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 263.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,911 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,910 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Toro were worth $874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Toro by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,207,000 after buying an additional 2,199,920 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Toro by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,123,000 after acquiring an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Toro by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company's stock worth $89,701,000 after buying an additional 260,746 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Toro by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company's stock worth $88,152,000 after purchasing an additional 164,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Toro by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,081,782 shares of the company's stock worth $86,651,000 after purchasing an additional 291,593 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.75.

Toro Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $75.88. 697,356 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 977,432. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.33. The Toro Company has a one year low of $62.34 and a one year high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 0.83.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Toro's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Toro 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.