Values First Advisors Inc. Has $1.98 Million Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Values First Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 24.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,168 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,180 shares during the period. Toro comprises approximately 1.2% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $1,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Evoke Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Toro during the fourth quarter worth $2,479,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toro by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,491,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,007,070,000 after purchasing an additional 103,300 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Toro by 334.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 818,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,545,000 after purchasing an additional 629,820 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC purchased a new position in Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $12,882,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Toro by 5,261.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 132,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,690,000 after purchasing an additional 129,743 shares in the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $89.64. The company had a trading volume of 801,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 725,207. The Toro Company has a 52-week low of $77.15 and a 52-week high of $104.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $93.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 0.69.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Toro had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 25.04%. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Toro Company will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Toro’s payout ratio is 56.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Toro 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 transaction of $1,903,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,705,138.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Toro from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.75.

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.