Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Toro (NYSE:TTC)

Key Points

• Investors purchased 1,176 put options on Toro (TTC) — a 1,709% increase versus the typical volume of 65 puts, indicating sizable bearish option bets.
• CEO Richard M. Olson sold 119,400 shares (about $11.96M) and a director sold 4,951 shares, with insider ownership now at 1.88%, signaling notable insider unloading.
• Toro beat quarterly EPS expectations ($0.74 vs. $0.65), set FY2026 guidance of 4.400–4.600 EPS, and currently carries a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Hold" with a $100.40 target price.

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Toro from $97.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Toro from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Toro from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $100.40.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $93.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Toro has a 1-year low of $66.99 and a 1-year high of $105.18. The company has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05 and a beta of 0.80. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $96.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.87.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.09. Toro had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 29.60%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Toro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.600 EPS. Research analysts expect that Toro will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 30th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Toro's payout ratio is currently 46.71%.

Insider Activity at Toro

In related news, Director James Calvin O'rourke sold 4,951 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $492,129.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,777.60. The trade was a 64.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 119,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.15, for a total transaction of $11,957,910.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 38,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,824,327.90. This trade represents a 75.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.88% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 37.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 456,861 shares of the company's stock worth $33,237,000 after buying an additional 124,373 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 258,444 shares of the company's stock worth $20,345,000 after buying an additional 10,835 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 125,625 shares of the company's stock worth $9,889,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 416.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 68,455 shares of the company's stock worth $6,396,000 after buying an additional 55,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 425.6% in the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 64,783 shares of the company's stock worth $5,100,000 after buying an additional 52,457 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Company Profile

The Toro Company NYSE: TTC specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of a broad range of outdoor environment equipment for residential, commercial and professional markets. Its product portfolio includes lawn mowers, utility vehicles, snow throwers, irrigation systems and landscape maintenance equipment. Toro's offerings span walk-behind and ride-on mowers, zero-turn radius mowers, snow blowers, sprinklers, drip irrigation products, spreaders and specialty turf maintenance machines tailored to golf courses, sports fields and municipal parks.

Founded in 1914 and headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, Toro has built a century-long legacy of innovation in the grounds-care industry.

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