Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 21,647 The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,734,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Toro by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Toro by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Toro by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Financial Advisors now owns 6,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Toro by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TTC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

Toro Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Toro stock opened at $73.91 on Thursday. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $71.23 and a twelve month high of $100.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $78.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

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.