Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Toro Put Options (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,709% compared to the typical daily volume of 65 put options.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $67.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.72. 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 has a 1-year low of $62.34 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.02 and its 200-day moving average is $80.09.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

Institutional Trading of Toro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Toro by 30.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 13,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,069 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $592,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Toro by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TTC. Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities raised 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Toro currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

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.