Toro (NYSE:TTC) Sets New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $77.14 and last traded at $77.44, with a volume of 302914 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $79.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Toro Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.40 and a 200 day moving average of $86.58.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Toro Company will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Toro’s payout ratio is 37.91%.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Toro by 112.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Toro by 850.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Toro by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 534.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 13.5% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

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.