D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 79,605 Shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 339,805 shares of the company’s stock after selling 79,605 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Toro were worth $27,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in Toro by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 166,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,364,000 after acquiring an additional 86,782 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Toro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $509,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Toro by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 13,373 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Toro by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Toro by 172.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 368,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,508,000 after purchasing an additional 233,397 shares during the last quarter. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Stock Performance

NYSE TTC opened at $72.38 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Toro Company has a twelve month low of $62.34 and a twelve month high of $100.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.37.

Toro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Toro’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Northland Securities upgraded Toro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Toro from $88.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Toro from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Toro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.