Toro Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 1,176 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,709% compared to the average volume of 65 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Toro from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of Toro stock opened at $84.28 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a 52 week low of $78.35 and a 52 week high of $108.50.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the third quarter worth about $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 135.9% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 2,057.1% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.