The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 13th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share on Wednesday, January 11th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 27th. This is an increase from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.
Toro has raised its dividend by an average of 9.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 18 years. Toro has a dividend payout ratio of 27.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Toro to earn $5.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.9%.
Toro Price Performance
NYSE:TTC opened at $112.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market cap of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84 and a beta of 0.76. Toro has a 52 week low of $71.86 and a 52 week high of $115.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.00.
Toro (NYSE:TTC – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 21st. The company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Toro had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 35.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Toro will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Activity
In related news, VP Kurt D. Svendsen sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.34, for a total transaction of $349,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $923,620.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in Toro by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,880,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,103,000 after buying an additional 50,034 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Toro during the 1st quarter worth $150,798,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Toro by 336.6% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 932,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,751,000 after purchasing an additional 719,203 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Toro by 4.5% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 904,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,288,000 after purchasing an additional 39,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Toro by 2.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 883,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,558,000 after purchasing an additional 23,223 shares in the last quarter. 85.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have weighed in on TTC shares. Raymond James raised Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 7th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Toro from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Toro from $120.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Thursday.
Toro Company Profile
The Toro Company engages in the designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling professional and residential equipment worldwide. The company’s 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; and snow and ice management equipment, such as snowplows, brush, snow thrower attachment, salt and sand spreaders, and related parts and accessories for light and medium duty trucks, utility task vehicles, skid steers, and front-end loaders.