Sei Investments Co. Raises Stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 54.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 212,972 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 75,147 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Toro were worth $17,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Toro by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 30,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,813 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in Toro by 111.4% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,161,000 after purchasing an additional 27,376 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Toro by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at $262,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Toro during the 4th quarter valued at $3,866,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $74.86 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.04. The company has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.81. The Toro Company has a one year low of $71.23 and a one year high of $100.93.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Toro declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Northland Securities raised shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

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.