Ethos Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 2,569 The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TTC. Values First Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Toro by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 17,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 5,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Toro by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 25,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,408,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Toro by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC grew its stake in Toro by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE TTC traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $88.75. 823,639 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,888. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.43 and a 200 day moving average of $89.12. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $78.35 and a 12-month high of $108.50. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.39 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 52.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.