Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New $377,000 Investment in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

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

Toro Price Performance

TTC stock traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $88.94. The company had a trading volume of 645,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,144. The Toro Company has a 1-year low of $78.35 and a 1-year high of $108.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.02). Toro had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 26.66%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TTC has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Toro has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $2,933,276.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.