M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

M&T Bank Corp reduced its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,747 shares of the company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Toro were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Toro by 37,332.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 470,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,034,000 after buying an additional 469,643 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 682.7% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 482,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,085,000 after acquiring an additional 420,539 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 11,970.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,750,000 after acquiring an additional 389,752 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC bought a new stake in Toro in the third quarter valued at $29,146,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Toro during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,166,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.33.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of TTC opened at $86.38 on Tuesday. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $77.15 and a fifty-two week high of $102.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.02. The stock has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.94.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.90%.

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.