Toro Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 1,176 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical daily volume of 65 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TTC. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price 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. 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 report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 21.1% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 6,900 shares of the company's stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Toro by 7.2% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,361 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Toro by 8.9% during the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 6,147 shares of the company's stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Toro by 7.3% during the third quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 4,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Toro during the third quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Toro stock traded down $0.69 during trading on Thursday, reaching $84.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 822,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 894,485. Toro has a 52-week low of $77.15 and a 52-week high of $102.00. The company has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 0.68. The firm's 50-day moving average is $86.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Toro's payout ratio is currently 37.80%.

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.