What’s a smart The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) investor to do?
In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods investors can use to analyze stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Equally as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of reasons for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to discuss the newest info about The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC).
What have hedge funds been doing with The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -20% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the biggest position in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC), worth close to $45.8 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $29.8 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Ian Simm’s Impax Asset Management, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Judging by the fact that The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) has experienced a fall in interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management dropped the largest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling about $20.8 million in stock, and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $3.5 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds heading into Q2.
What have insiders been doing with The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC). These stocks are The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML), Makita Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:MKTAY), Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA), Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD), and Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO). This group of stocks are the members of the small tools & accessories industry and their market caps resemble TTC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Makita Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:MKTAY) | 0 | 0 | |
| Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results explained by Insider Monkey’s strategies, regular investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) is an important part of this process.
