Toro Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TTC)

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 1,176 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,709% compared to the average volume of 65 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Toro from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.75.

Toro Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $92.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.45 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.49. Toro has a 1 year low of $77.15 and a 1 year high of $106.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.11. Toro had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 25.04%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Toro will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 56.92%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.19, for a total value of $1,903,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,705,138.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Toro by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 60,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Paralel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Toro by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 17,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Toro by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Toro in the 3rd quarter valued at $267,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Toro by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 128,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,673,000 after purchasing an additional 25,228 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.