Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases 9,064 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,564 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,064 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $3,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 17,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 5,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 25,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,408,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC increased its position in Toro by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.60.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded up $0.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.31. 386,021 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 693,714. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $78.35 and a 52-week 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. The company has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.00.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.55%.

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.