KBC Group NV Acquires 74,257 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

KBC Group NV lifted its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 945.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,111 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,257 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Toro were worth $6,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Toro by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,959,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,639,000 after buying an additional 29,105 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Toro by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 618,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,685,000 after acquiring an additional 64,660 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Toro by 11,970.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 393,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,750,000 after acquiring an additional 389,752 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the 3rd quarter worth $29,146,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Toro by 31.5% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 298,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,859,000 after purchasing an additional 71,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of TTC stock opened at $84.55 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.67 and its 200 day moving average is $85.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08 and a beta of 0.72. 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 Toro Company has a 12-month low of $76.95 and a 12-month high of $100.93.

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

Toro declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James lowered their price target on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

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.