Burney Co. Trims Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Burney Co. decreased its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,638 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,428 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Toro were worth $3,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Toro by 112.1% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Toro by 850.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in 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. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Toro by 534.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Price Performance

Shares of TTC opened at $82.26 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.36. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.95 and a fifty-two week high of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James lowered their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

About Toro

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.