Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Buys 17,509 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 231.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,068 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 17,509 shares during the quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Toro were worth $2,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,565,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $968,083,000 after buying an additional 73,719 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,653,109 shares of the company's stock valued at $609,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332,248 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 1.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,519,407 shares of the company's stock valued at $516,120,000 after purchasing an additional 88,536 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 1.4% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,766,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $445,673,000 after purchasing an additional 65,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 11.5% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,725,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,751,000 after purchasing an additional 280,855 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TTC. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.33.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.88. 686,830 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 888,734. The business's 50-day moving average price is $86.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.62. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 0.68. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $77.15 and a 12-month high of $102.00. 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 issued 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 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 was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Toro's payout ratio is presently 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.