Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New Investment in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Toro by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Toro by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Toro in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Toro by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 33,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,222,000 after buying an additional 9,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Toro by 21,698.5% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 73,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,009,000 after buying an additional 72,690 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on TTC shares. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. TheStreet raised shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of Toro stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of Toro stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, 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.

Toro Stock Performance

TTC traded up $0.63 during trading on Monday, reaching $88.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 645,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,144. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $88.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.08. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $78.35 and a 52-week high of $108.50.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s payout ratio is 52.55%.

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.