Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Invests $1.73 Million in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,647 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,734,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Toro by 6,995.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 74,005 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,418,000 after acquiring an additional 72,962 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its position in shares of Toro by 101.6% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 13,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,000 after buying an additional 6,550 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Toro by 294.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,652 shares of the company's stock worth $1,975,000 after buying an additional 18,401 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Toro by 111.4% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company's stock worth $4,161,000 after buying an additional 27,376 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,123,000 after purchasing an additional 60,068 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on TTC. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities upgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.75.

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Toro Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE TTC traded down $1.28 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $64.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,351,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,588. The Toro Company has a 52 week low of $62.73 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The company has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $77.10 and its 200-day moving average is $81.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Toro's payout ratio is 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.