Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Toro (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,176 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,709% compared to the average daily volume of 65 put options.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $72.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.57. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.00 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Toro has a 12 month low of $71.50 and a 12 month high of $100.93.

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

Toro announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TTC. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Toro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 195.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

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.