Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Toll Brothers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Toll Brothers from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $155.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Toll Brothers in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $189.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Toll Brothers currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.57.

Toll Brothers Stock Performance

Shares of TOL opened at $105.94 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.65, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.53. Toll Brothers has a 12 month low of $102.49 and a 12 month high of $169.52.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by ($0.24). Toll Brothers had a net margin of 14.03% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Toll Brothers will post 13.83 EPS for the current year.

Toll Brothers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. This is a positive change from Toll Brothers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Toll Brothers’s payout ratio is currently 6.88%.

Insider Activity at Toll Brothers

In other news, CFO Martin P. Connor sold 11,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.07, for a total transaction of $1,404,419.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,618 shares in the company, valued at $2,599,311.26. The trade was a 35.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christine Garvey sold 204 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.78, for a total transaction of $25,659.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $972,027.84. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,785 shares of company stock worth $1,479,185. Corporate insiders own 1.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Toll Brothers

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TOL. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Toll Brothers by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,569 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Toll Brothers by 59.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,950 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Toll Brothers by 18.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,827 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Toll Brothers by 3.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,054 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Toll Brothers by 133.2% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 53,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,269,000 after acquiring an additional 30,566 shares during the last quarter. 91.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges finance for a range of detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities in the United States. It designs, builds, markets, and sells condominiums through Toll Brothers City Living. The company also develops a range of single-story living and first-floor primary bedroom suite home designs, as well as communities with recreational amenities, such as golf courses, marinas, pool complexes, country clubs, and fitness and recreation centers; and develops, operates, and rents apartments.