Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group Purchases 429 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,348 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group’s holdings in Toro were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new position in Toro in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Toro during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Toro by 135.9% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Toro during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Toro during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TTC traded down $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $84.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 157,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 710,281. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.69 and a 200-day moving average of $88.83. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 0.72. The Toro Company has a 12 month low of $78.35 and a 12 month high of $108.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 6.53%. The company’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is 52.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,933,276.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Toro 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 directly owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,958.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gary Lee Ellis sold 5,192 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,933,276.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TTC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Toro from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Toro from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Toro from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.60.

About Toro

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.