Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 29,200 The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 29,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,803,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Toro by 135.9% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of Toro during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In other news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was 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 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 insiders.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $85.60 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $91.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.84. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a PE ratio of 31.24 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The Toro Company has a one year low of $78.35 and a one year high of $108.50.

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

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.