Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,515 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,503 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Values First Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Toro by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 17,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 5,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC grew its position in Toro by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Toro by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 3,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on TTC. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.60.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of Toro stock opened at $87.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.02. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $78.35 and a 12 month high of $108.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 52.55%.

Insider Activity at Toro

In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total transaction of $55,085.55. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Toro 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.