Longbow Research Upgrades Toro (NYSE:TTC) to Buy

Key Points

• Toro has been upgraded from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating by Longbow Research, with a price objective of $100.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.41%.
• Recent quarterly earnings showed a net margin of 8.77% and an EPS of $1.42, surpassing estimates, despite a 2.3% decline in year-over-year revenue.
• Toro's average analyst rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $89.60, as three analysts rated it as a Buy and three as Hold.

Longbow Research upgraded shares of Toro (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $100.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. 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 target price on shares of Toro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $80.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.60.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE TTC traded down $0.98 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $81.02. 1,130,950 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,881. The company has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77 and a beta of 0.80. Toro has a 12-month low of $62.34 and a 12-month high of $93.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.82 and a 200 day moving average of $73.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

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, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Toro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.300 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of Toro stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the sale, the director owned 34,062 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,411,930.22. The trade was a 12.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of Toro stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total transaction of $425,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,646 shares in the company, valued at $826,749.54. This trade represents a 34.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TTC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,508 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Toro by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 112,835 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,975,000 after purchasing an additional 16,854 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Toro by 93.9% during the 2nd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 17,145 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 8,302 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Toro during the 2nd quarter valued at about $85,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 124.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,962 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.