Impax Asset Management Group plc Decreases Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Impax Asset Management Group plc trimmed its stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 71.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,976 shares of the company's stock after selling 54,547 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Toro were worth $1,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 28,453 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Toro by 5.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 200,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,386,000 after acquiring an additional 9,998 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Toro in the third quarter valued at about $1,185,000. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in Toro by 11.2% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 14,200 shares of the company's stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Toro by 245.7% during the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 23,540 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,042,000 after purchasing an additional 16,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE TTC traded down $1.14 on Friday, reaching $80.96. 526,553 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 656,455. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a one year low of $77.15 and a one year high of $102.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 0.69. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $83.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.13.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.