Toro (NYSE:TTC) Hits New 1-Year Low - Should You Sell?

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $74.96 and last traded at $74.99, with a volume of 39443 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TTC shares. Northland Capmk raised Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James decreased their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.75.

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Toro Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.59.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is a boost from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,207,000 after buying an additional 2,199,920 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Toro by 1.5% in the 3rd 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 60,068 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Toro by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company's stock worth $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Toro by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company's stock worth $88,152,000 after purchasing an additional 164,069 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.