Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 346,289 Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 346,289 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,615,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.35% of Toll Brothers at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Toll Brothers during the fourth quarter worth about $149,924,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Toll Brothers by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,528,853 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $318,509,000 after purchasing an additional 410,394 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Toll Brothers by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,226,271 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $154,449,000 after purchasing an additional 341,980 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Toll Brothers by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,903,545 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $239,751,000 after purchasing an additional 236,402 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Toll Brothers by 228.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 232,180 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,243,000 after purchasing an additional 161,408 shares in the last quarter. 91.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christine Garvey sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.58, for a total transaction of $46,443.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,107.88. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.54% of the company’s stock.

Toll Brothers Trading Up 0.5 %

TOL opened at $94.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 4.65. Toll Brothers, Inc. has a one year low of $86.67 and a one year high of $169.52. The company has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.48, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.66.

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

Toll Brothers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from Toll Brothers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Toll Brothers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TOL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Toll Brothers from $164.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Toll Brothers from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Toll Brothers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Toll Brothers from $143.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Toll Brothers in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toll Brothers currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.79.

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.