The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Sold by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 54.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 591 shares of the company’s stock after selling 709 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 25.0% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,378,000 after purchasing an additional 835,637 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Toro by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,061,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,246,000 after buying an additional 757,641 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Toro by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,209,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,528,000 after acquiring an additional 204,542 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 2,481.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 74,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,080 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank boosted its position in shares of Toro by 99.5% in the third quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 129,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,740,000 after acquiring an additional 64,446 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on TTC. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.60.

Insider Transactions at Toro

In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of TTC stock traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $87.19. The company had a trading volume of 190,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 717,492. The company has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $78.35 and a twelve month high of $108.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.92.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.55%.

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.