Toro Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

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

Institutional Trading of Toro

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TTC. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Toro by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 94.1% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Financial Harvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Securities raised shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Toro Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE TTC opened at $75.24 on Thursday. Toro has a 52 week low of $62.34 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 0.83.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

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.