Trexquant Investment LP Decreases Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 34.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 229,339 shares of the company's stock after selling 118,199 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.23% of Toro worth $18,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the third quarter valued at $1,248,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 6,995.4% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 74,005 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,418,000 after acquiring an additional 72,962 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 13,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,550 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Toro by 294.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,652 shares of the company's stock worth $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 18,401 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 111.4% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,161,000 after purchasing an additional 27,376 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities raised shares of Toro from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.75.

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Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC traded down $6.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $67.70. The stock had a trading volume of 955,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 951,882. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $67.70 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.34 and a 200-day moving average of $81.76. The company has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Toro's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

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

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.