HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 744 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,191 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 744 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Toro by 195.7% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in Toro by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Toro by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on TTC. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James cut their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Toro Stock Down 2.1 %

TTC opened at $73.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 0.70. The Toro Company has a one year low of $71.23 and a one year high of $100.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.98.

Toro announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

Toro Company Profile

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.