Toro (NYSE:TTC) Sees Large Volume Increase After Dividend Announcement

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday after the company announced a dividend. Approximately 437,371 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the previous session’s volume of 720,369 shares.The stock last traded at $89.25 and had previously closed at $90.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Toro Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $88.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 31.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Toro news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Toro by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,565,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $968,083,000 after purchasing an additional 73,719 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,653,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $609,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332,248 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Toro by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,378,000 after acquiring an additional 835,637 shares in the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. boosted its position in shares of Toro by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 3,225,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,620,000 after purchasing an additional 18,899 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,725,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,751,000 after purchasing an additional 280,855 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by 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.