Ieq Capital LLC Invests $2.25 Million in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 28,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,252,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 4,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Toro by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Toro by 15.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Toro by 7.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $79.95 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $76.95 and a twelve month high of $100.93.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.75.

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.