First Trust Advisors LP Increases Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 264.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 211,849 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 153,730 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.21% of Toro worth $16,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,435 shares of the company's stock worth $4,601,000 after purchasing an additional 14,433 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Toro by 294.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,652 shares of the company's stock worth $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 18,401 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Toro by 111.4% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,161,000 after acquiring an additional 27,376 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Toro by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,123,000 after acquiring an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd now owns 77,756 shares of the company's stock worth $6,228,000 after purchasing an additional 32,661 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TTC. Northland Capmk raised Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Toro Stock Down 1.3 %

TTC stock opened at $68.02 on Friday. The Toro Company has a one year low of $62.34 and a one year high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.44 and a 200-day moving average of $79.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Toro's dividend 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.

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