Toast (NYSE:TOST) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $38.00. The stock had previously closed at $32.67, but opened at $38.39. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Toast shares last traded at $35.43, with a volume of 5,655,452 shares.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Toast from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Toast from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Toast from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Toast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 100,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.35, for a total transaction of $2,435,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 120,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,924,605.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Aman Narang sold 10,106 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $280,643.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,883,998.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.35, for a total value of $2,435,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 120,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,924,605.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,375,651 shares of company stock valued at $38,150,212 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOST. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Toast by 52.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Toast in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Toast in the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in Toast during the first quarter worth approximately $1,172,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Toast by 16.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 75,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 10,363 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Up 8.7 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.86. The company has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -122.44 and a beta of 1.74.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.04. Toast had a negative net margin of 3.10% and a negative return on equity of 11.27%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Toast, Inc. will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.