The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Bought by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,323 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,636 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Toro worth $4,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Toro by 195.7% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 54.6% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TTC shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC stock opened at $74.55 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a 52 week low of $71.23 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The company has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.70.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Toro announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Toro

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.