Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL)

Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 5,854 put options on the company. This is an increase of 36% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,309 put options.

Insider Transactions at Toll Brothers

In related news, Director Paul E. Shapiro sold 3,837 shares of Toll Brothers stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $514,695.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 119,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,088,349.18. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 11,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total transaction of $1,404,419.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,618 shares in the company, valued at $2,599,311.26. The trade was a 35.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,202 shares of company stock valued at $1,947,436. 1.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toll Brothers

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TOL. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Toll Brothers during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Toll Brothers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Toll Brothers in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Toll Brothers during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Toll Brothers by 57.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 180 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.76% of the company’s stock.

Toll Brothers Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TOL traded down $7.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $114.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,715,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,604,658. The company has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.65, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.76. Toll Brothers has a twelve month low of $100.47 and a twelve month high of $169.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $130.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 4.92 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by ($0.24). Toll Brothers had a return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Toll Brothers will post 14.15 EPS for the current year.

Toll Brothers Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Toll Brothers’s payout ratio is presently 6.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Toll Brothers from $155.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (down previously from $166.00) on shares of Toll Brothers in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Toll Brothers in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Toll Brothers from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.43.

Toll Brothers Company Profile

Toll Brothers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges finance for a range of detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities in the United States. It designs, builds, markets, and sells condominiums through Toll Brothers City Living. The company also develops a range of single-story living and first-floor primary bedroom suite home designs, as well as communities with recreational amenities, such as golf courses, marinas, pool complexes, country clubs, and fitness and recreation centers; and develops, operates, and rents apartments.