Everpar Advisors LLC Takes $263,000 Position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TTC. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 25.0% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,180,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,378,000 after buying an additional 835,637 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 249.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,061,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,246,000 after buying an additional 757,641 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Toro by 20.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,209,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,528,000 after purchasing an additional 204,542 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Toro by 21,698.5% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 73,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,009,000 after purchasing an additional 72,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Toro by 2,481.2% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 74,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,080 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toro Stock Performance

TTC traded down $2.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $87.00. The company had a trading volume of 590,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 711,644. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.75 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $78.35 and a 12-month high of $108.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $88.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.12.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TTC. TheStreet upgraded shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toro presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total value of $460,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Edric C. Funk sold 615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.57, for a total value of $55,085.55. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,958.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.75, for a total transaction of $460,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.62% of the company’s stock.

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.