The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Receives $93.75 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the four brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.75.

Separately, Raymond James reduced their price target on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE TTC traded up $2.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $82.24. 913,033 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 808,614. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.39 and a 200-day moving average of $86.46. Toro has a one year low of $76.95 and a one year high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. Toro's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Toro will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Toro's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.91%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Toro

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,519,407 shares of the company's stock worth $516,120,000 after purchasing an additional 88,536 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Toro by 1.4% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,766,046 shares of the company's stock worth $445,673,000 after purchasing an additional 65,800 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Toro by 13.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 901,346 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,279,000 after buying an additional 110,330 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 11.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 618,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,660 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.