Toro Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TTC)

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,176 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the average volume of 65 put options.

Toro Stock Performance

TTC stock traded down $2.34 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $98.39. The stock had a trading volume of 793,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 911,553. Toro has a 52 week low of $62.34 and a 52 week high of $105.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.22.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Toro had a return on equity of 28.90% and a net margin of 7.01%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Toro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.600 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Toro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toro

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in Toro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $215,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Toro in the 4th quarter valued at $756,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Toro by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 125,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,889,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Toro during the fourth quarter valued at $1,664,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Toro by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 258,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,345,000 after purchasing an additional 10,835 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TTC. Raymond James Financial downgraded Toro from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $84.00 target price on Toro in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Toro from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Toro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.20.

About Toro

The Toro Company (NYSE: TTC) specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of a broad range of outdoor environment equipment for residential, commercial and professional markets. Its product portfolio includes lawn mowers, utility vehicles, snow throwers, irrigation systems and landscape maintenance equipment. Toro’s offerings span walk-behind and ride-on mowers, zero-turn radius mowers, snow blowers, sprinklers, drip irrigation products, spreaders and specialty turf maintenance machines tailored to golf courses, sports fields and municipal parks.

Founded in 1914 and headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, Toro has built a century-long legacy of innovation in the grounds-care industry.