The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Short Interest Down 24.1% in March

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,530,000 shares, a decline of 24.1% from the February 28th total of 4,650,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TTC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Institutional Trading of Toro

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Toro by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 5,570 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Toro during the fourth quarter worth about $138,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter worth about $4,919,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Toro by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:TTC traded down $0.24 on Tuesday, hitting $72.51. 1,431,315 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 951,927. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. Toro has a 52 week low of $71.23 and a 52 week high of $100.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.82.

Toro declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.87%.

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.