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

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the average daily volume of 65 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TTC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Toro from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.60.

Toro Price Performance

Toro stock opened at $84.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85 and a beta of 0.72. Toro has a 52 week low of $78.35 and a 52 week high of $108.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.55%.

Insider Activity at Toro

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

Institutional Trading of Toro

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Toro by 24.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 128,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,673,000 after acquiring an additional 25,228 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Toro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,304,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Toro by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 265,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,457,000 after acquiring an additional 50,105 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 8.9% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 130,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,834,000 after buying an additional 10,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Toro by 15.1% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 42,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,558,000 after buying an additional 5,612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

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.