Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 54,547 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 71.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TTC. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Toro by 112.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Toro in the first quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Toro by 522.6% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 716 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Toro by 850.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Toro by 22.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 908 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE TTC traded up $1.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $84.85. 919,361 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 878,338. The Toro Company has a one year low of $77.15 and a one year high of $102.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.31.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TTC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.