Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 200,456 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,998 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Toro worth $17,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Toro by 350.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the company's stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 54,458 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,990,000 after acquiring an additional 11,661 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,565,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $968,083,000 after acquiring an additional 73,719 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC bought a new stake in Toro during the 1st quarter valued at $321,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Toro by 522.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 716 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE TTC traded up $0.86 during trading on Monday, hitting $81.82. The stock had a trading volume of 462,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 869,547. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $102.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.14.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on TTC. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.33.

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.