Short Interest in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Drops By 24.1%

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a decrease of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 4,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded down $0.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.51. 1,431,315 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 951,927. The company has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. Toro has a 1-year low of $71.23 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.82.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on TTC shares. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James cut their price target on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its position in Toro by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.