Franklin Resources Inc. Has $3.99 Million Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,912 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,409 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.'s holdings in Toro were worth $3,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 37,332.5% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 470,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,034,000 after buying an additional 469,643 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Toro by 682.7% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 482,139 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,085,000 after acquiring an additional 420,539 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Toro by 11,970.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,750,000 after purchasing an additional 389,752 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,146,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Toro in the second quarter valued at about $25,166,000. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TTC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.75.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC traded up $0.64 on Wednesday, reaching $80.85. 336,791 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 864,160. The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.22 and a beta of 0.70. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $84.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.97. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Toro's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Company 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.