Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Toro Put Options (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 1,176 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $81.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 717,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 863,569. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Toro has a fifty-two week low of $77.15 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.93 and a 200-day moving average of $87.92.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. Toro's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Toro's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake 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. increased its position in Toro by 682.7% in 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 raised its stake in shares of Toro by 11,970.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company's stock worth $36,750,000 after acquiring an additional 389,752 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the third quarter worth approximately $29,146,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Toro during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,166,000. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toro currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.75.

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.