Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 1,266 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,986 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TTC. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Toro by 8.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in Toro by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 3,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Toro by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Toro by 153.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 28,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,483,000 after buying an additional 17,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Toro by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 30,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,638,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of TTC stock opened at $64.45 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.32. The stock has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $62.73 and a 12 month high of $100.93.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Toro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Toro announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase 4,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. 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 research note on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities raised shares of Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

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.