Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Stock Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 58,323 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,636 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Toro were worth $4,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Toro by 195.7% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Toro by 54.6% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $74.55 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $79.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $71.23 and a 1-year high of $100.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.70.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TTC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

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.