Leavell Investment Management Inc. Invests $227,000 in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TTC. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 850.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 855 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Toro by 534.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Toro by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Toro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TTC opened at $80.50 on Friday. 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 Toro Company has a 12 month low of $76.95 and a 12 month high of $100.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.75. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.72.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 27.25%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Toro’s payout ratio is currently 37.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

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.