Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Toro (NYSE:TTC)

Toro Company (The) (NYSE:TTC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 1,176 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,709% compared to the typical volume of 65 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toro

In other news, Director James Calvin O’rourke sold 4,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $492,129.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,704 shares in the company, valued at $268,777.60. This represents a 64.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 119,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.15, for a total transaction of $11,957,910.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,186 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,327.90. The trade was a 75.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toro

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Toro during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toro in the third quarter worth about $97,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the third quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of TTC stock opened at $93.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.22 and a 200-day moving average of $83.36. Toro has a 12-month low of $62.34 and a 12-month high of $105.18.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.09. Toro had a return on equity of 29.60% and a net margin of 7.28%.The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Toro’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Toro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Toro will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Toro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 30th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Toro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Toro from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Toro from $97.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Toro from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Raymond James Financial cut Toro from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Toro from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.40.

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.