BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 20,783 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 59.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,621 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 20,783 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.05% of Toro worth $4,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Toro by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,680 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,682,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company's stock worth $4,405,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its holdings in Toro by 2.8% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 4,612 shares of the company's stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Toro by 1.4% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,060 shares of the company's stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 15.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.33.

Toro Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE TTC traded down $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.02. The stock had a trading volume of 122,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 851,557. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $102.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.66 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.82.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Toro's payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

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.