Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 49.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,927 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,157 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Toro were worth $3,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 144,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,527,000 after purchasing an additional 28,453 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 325,053 shares of the company's stock worth $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 9,371 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Toro in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,139,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 278,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,172,000 after purchasing an additional 14,950 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 200,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,386,000 after purchasing an additional 9,998 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Up 0.2 %

Toro stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $87.08. The stock had a trading volume of 330,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,944. The Toro Company has a one year low of $77.15 and a one year high of $102.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.88. The company has a market capitalization of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a research note 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.33.

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.