State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its holdings in Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,132 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 8.4% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 43,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,396 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Toro by 91.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Toro by 11.2% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Toro by 1.2% in the first quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 20,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Management Associates Inc boosted its position in Toro by 100.0% during the first quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 11,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,681 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.99, for a total value of $425,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $826,749.54. This trade represents a 34.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $356,740.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,062 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,411,930.22. This represents a 12.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of TTC opened at $73.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $73.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.97. Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $62.34 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. Toro had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.99%. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts forecast that Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on TTC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk lowered shares of Toro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Toro from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Toro from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.75.

Toro 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.