The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lowered its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 270,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 97,346 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Toro were worth $23,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.4% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Toro by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,405,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its holdings in Toro by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 4,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Toro by 1.4% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toro by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Toro Trading Up 0.7 %

Toro stock opened at $88.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $77.15 and a 12 month high of $102.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.96. The stock has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18 and a beta of 0.70.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.80%.

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

Toro 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.