Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 154,544 The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 154,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,379,000. Norges Bank owned 0.15% of Toro at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TTC. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 195.7% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $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 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC grew its holdings in Toro by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Toro by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $64.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.10 and a 200-day moving average of $81.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $62.73 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TTC. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toro presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

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.