The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Short Interest Down 16.2% in April

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,270,000 shares, a decrease of 16.2% from the March 31st total of 3,900,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Toro

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TTC. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Toro in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Toro by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Harvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Toro in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.05. The company had a trading volume of 484,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 974,453. The firm has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.47 and a beta of 0.83. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $71.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.69. Toro has a one year low of $62.34 and a one year high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Toro's payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

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.