Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Raises Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 72,945 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,429 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Toro were worth $5,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the fourth quarter worth about $12,379,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Toro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $382,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $883,000. Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 217.2% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 90,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,230,000 after purchasing an additional 61,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 386,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,931,000 after purchasing an additional 50,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Toro Trading Down 8.3 %

NYSE TTC opened at $67.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.67. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $67.68 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

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.