Toro Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

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

Toro Stock Down 0.6 %

Toro stock traded down $0.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $80.17. 589,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 741,837. The company has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 0.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $83.01 and its 200 day moving average is $85.17. Toro has a 52 week low of $76.95 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.91%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Toro by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company's stock worth $169,639,000 after purchasing an additional 29,105 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company's stock worth $95,123,000 after buying an additional 60,068 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Toro by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,701,000 after buying an additional 260,746 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Toro by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,043,833 shares of the company's stock worth $83,611,000 after buying an additional 36,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in Toro by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 799,385 shares of the company's stock worth $64,031,000 after acquiring an additional 24,596 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.75.

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.