Quadrature Capital Ltd Decreases Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Quadrature Capital Ltd trimmed its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 72.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,981 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,176 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $103,785,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,845,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,171,000 after purchasing an additional 783,794 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 334.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 818,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,545,000 after buying an additional 629,820 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Toro by 250.5% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 459,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,128,000 after buying an additional 328,550 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Toro by 11.5% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,725,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,751,000 after acquiring an additional 280,855 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Stock Up 0.8 %

Toro stock traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,055,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 912,681. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $104.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.25 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.60.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 25.04% and a net margin of 6.00%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Toro from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.19, for a total value of $1,903,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,705,138.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.