DnB Asset Management AS Acquires 580 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,452 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 580 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Toro were worth $2,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Toro by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Northwest Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Toro by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Toro by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James decreased 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock opened at $72.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.82. The Toro Company has a 1 year low of $71.23 and a 1 year high of $100.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

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.