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

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 1,176 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Institutional Trading of Toro

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Toro by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,447 shares of the company's stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Toro by 30.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 13,129 shares of the company's stock worth $1,139,000 after buying an additional 3,069 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Toro during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $592,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 3.0% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,168 shares of the company's stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,245 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 3,316 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TTC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Capmk raised Toro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Toro presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.75.

Toro Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE TTC traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $65.77. The company had a trading volume of 69,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 971,764. Toro has a 1-year low of $62.34 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.49 and a 200 day moving average of $79.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Toro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.87%.

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.