Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Toro Company has received an average rating of "Hold" from five analysts, with four recommending a hold and one a buy, and has a target price of $82.75.
• Recent insider trading included a sale of 5,038 shares by Director Gary Lee Ellis, indicating a 12.88% decrease in ownership, while VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares, decreasing their position by 34.00%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38, which reflects an annualized payout of $1.52 and a dividend yield of 2.1%.

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.75.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TTC. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price objective on Toro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Capmk downgraded Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 6th.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC stock traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $73.98. 246,098 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 971,912. Toro has a 1 year low of $62.34 and a 1 year high of $93.00. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99 and a beta of 0.80. The company's 50 day moving average is $72.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.99% and a net margin of 8.77%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Toro's payout ratio is 38.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total value of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total transaction of $425,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,749.54. The trade was a 34.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TTC. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Toro by 1,481.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 1,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 66.8% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 32,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 5.9% during the second quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 11,858 shares of the company's stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 32.1% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,247 shares of the company's stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 5.8% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,186 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,905,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

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.