Toro Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

Toro Trading Down 0.4 %

Toro stock opened at $87.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $88.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.01. Toro has a one year low of $78.35 and a one year high of $108.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 52.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In other Toro news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the completion of 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 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro during the third quarter worth $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 135.9% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 1,204.8% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 2,057.1% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. 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.