Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 6.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 140,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,269 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Toro were worth $12,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TTC. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 41.9% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 3,202 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 32.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 29.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,405,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Toro during the second quarter valued at $2,532,000. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Stock Up 0.7 %

TTC stock opened at $88.32 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $84.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.94. The Toro Company has a fifty-two week low of $77.15 and a fifty-two week high of $102.00. The company has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18 and a beta of 0.70.

Toro declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Toro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Toro from $103.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Toro in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Toro from $102.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.33.

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.