Toro (NYSE:TTC) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $85.31, but opened at $80.70. Toro shares last traded at $83.29, with a volume of 251,316 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Toro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.33.

Toro Price Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $84.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.12.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Toro's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Toro's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.90%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Toro by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,150 shares of the company's stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company's stock worth $4,405,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Toro by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 908 shares of the company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the second quarter valued at approximately $305,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company's stock.

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.