Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

TOL has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Toll Brothers from $127.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Toll Brothers from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Toll Brothers from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Toll Brothers from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated a neutral rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Toll Brothers in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toll Brothers presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $113.80.

Toll Brothers Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of TOL opened at $113.18 on Tuesday. Toll Brothers has a 52-week low of $61.17 and a 52-week high of $130.63. The business’s fifty day moving average is $117.23 and its 200-day moving average is $98.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 4.95. The firm has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.66.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The construction company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.48. Toll Brothers had a return on equity of 21.04% and a net margin of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Toll Brothers will post 13.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toll Brothers Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This is an increase from Toll Brothers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Toll Brothers’s payout ratio is presently 7.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Toll Brothers news, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 5,000 shares of Toll Brothers stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.05, for a total transaction of $580,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,770,122.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Carl B. Marbach sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.02, for a total transaction of $1,180,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,823.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.05, for a total value of $580,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,721 shares in the company, valued at $5,770,122.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,500 shares of company stock valued at $7,881,930. 1.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toll Brothers

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Toll Brothers by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,623,797 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $546,551,000 after purchasing an additional 968,528 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 1.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,070,929 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $191,415,000 after acquiring an additional 45,004 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 10.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,773,505 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $177,444,000 after acquiring an additional 353,364 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 271.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,096,331 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $154,569,000 after acquiring an additional 2,263,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 6.0% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,467,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $182,484,000 after acquiring an additional 139,004 shares in the last quarter. 91.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges finance for a range of detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities in the United States. It designs, builds, markets, and sells condominiums through Toll Brothers City Living. The company also develops a range of single-story living and first-floor primary bedroom suite home designs, as well as communities with recreational amenities, such as golf courses, marinas, pool complexes, country clubs, and fitness and recreation centers; and develops, operates, and rents apartments.