Toast (NYSE:TOST) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Toast (NYSE:TOST) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.30.

Toast Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of TOST opened at $36.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.60 and a beta of 1.94. Toast has a 1-year low of $27.65 and a 1-year high of $49.66.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Toast had a net margin of 4.07% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Toast will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Toast news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 6,530 shares of Toast stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $232,206.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 69,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,486,781.92. The trade was a 8.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Paul D. Bell sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.38, for a total transaction of $529,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 226,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,615,682.96. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 62,196 shares of company stock valued at $2,398,513. 12.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TOST. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 331.0% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 8,601,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,606,245 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 14,258.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,474,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,587,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,317 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the second quarter valued at approximately $219,324,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 108.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,887,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,333,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 17.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,454,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490,686 shares during the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toast Company Profile

Toast, Inc operates a cloud-based digital technology platform for the restaurant industry in the United States, Ireland, and India. The company offers software products for restaurant operations and point of sale, such as Toast POS, Toast now, multi-location management, kitchen display system, Toast mobile order and pay, Toast catering and events, Toast invoicing, Toast tables, and restaurant retail; and hardware products, including Toast flex, Toast flex for guest, Toast go 2, Toast tap, kiosks, and Delphi by Toast.