Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 30.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 249,121 shares of the company's stock after selling 107,090 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.24% of Toro worth $21,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TTC. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Toro by 112.1% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Toro by 850.0% during 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 during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the 2nd quarter worth about $94,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 534.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company's stock.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded up $0.80 on Thursday, reaching $81.65. 717,249 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 863,569. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.92. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 0.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on TTC. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.75.

Toro 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.