Toro (NYSE:TTC) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $62.34 and last traded at $63.36, with a volume of 1473811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Toro Stock Down 1.5 %

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’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.05. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Toro by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,031,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,207,000 after buying an additional 2,199,920 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after purchasing an additional 29,105 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Toro by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,187,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,123,000 after purchasing an additional 60,068 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,121,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,701,000 after purchasing an additional 260,746 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Toro by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,100,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,152,000 after purchasing an additional 164,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.