Toro Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 1,176 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the average daily volume of 65 put options.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In related news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total value of $356,740.78. Following the sale, the director directly owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. The trade was a 12.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,247 shares of the company's stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,186 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 21,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Toro by 191.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 7,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 4,984 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,840 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 3,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $76.00. 570,555 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 927,869. Toro has a 12 month low of $62.34 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.79 and a 200 day moving average of $75.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.49 and a beta of 0.81.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on TTC. DA Davidson set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Toro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk cut shares of Toro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.75.

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.