Investors Purchase High Volume of Toro Put Options (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 1,176 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 1,204.8% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 274 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Toro by 2,057.1% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Toro by 522.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Toro in the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on TTC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Toro in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.33.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC opened at $85.50 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.69. Toro has a one year low of $77.15 and a one year high of $102.00.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). Toro had a return on equity of 25.94% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Toro’s payout ratio is presently 56.92%.

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.