Toast (NYSE:TOST) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Toast (NYSE:TOST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Toast from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Toast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Toast from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.12.

Toast Price Performance

NYSE:TOST opened at $30.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.78 and a beta of 1.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.99. Toast has a 1 year low of $22.26 and a 1 year high of $39.72.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Toast had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 23.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Toast will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 7,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.19, for a total value of $230,138.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 77,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,430.56. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aman Narang sold 14,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $431,826.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,543 shares in the company, valued at $2,540,037.05. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 534,830 shares of company stock valued at $18,566,600 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOST. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in Toast by 46.3% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,755,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,880,000 after purchasing an additional 555,568 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 50,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 7,298 shares in the last quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust now owns 5,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Talon Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Toast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $837,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Toast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,320,000. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toast News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Toast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Toast introduced a new Toast IQ team and expanded Toast IQ Grow, adding tools designed to help restaurants improve profitability, attract guests and manage labor. The initiatives could strengthen Toast’s artificial-intelligence and analytics offering, increase customer engagement and support additional software revenue. New Toast IQ Team and Expanded Toast IQ Grow
• Neutral Sentiment: Several senior executives sold shares, including CEO Aman Narang, CFO Elena Gomez, CRO Jonathan Vassil, President Stephen Fredette and General Counsel Brian Elworthy. The reported transactions totaled approximately 63,562 shares worth about $1.88 million, including a later 7,623-share sale by Mr. Vassil. Most sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans or to cover tax-withholding obligations from vested equity awards, reducing their significance as a bearish signal. Toast executive Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains a potential overhang. Toast trades at roughly 39 times earnings, while its latest quarterly EPS fell short of analyst expectations even though revenue exceeded forecasts and rose 23.1% year over year. A recent Hold rating and the earnings miss could make investors more cautious until Toast demonstrates that new products can translate into accelerating profits.

Toast Company Profile

Toast, Inc (NYSE:TOST) provides a cloud-based technology platform designed for restaurants and other foodservice businesses. Its platform combines point-of-sale hardware and software with tools for payment processing, menu and order management, employee operations, inventory, reporting and customer engagement.

The company’s products and services support in-restaurant, online and delivery orders, as well as gift cards, loyalty programs, marketing and payroll-related functions. Toast also offers restaurant-specific hardware, including terminals, handheld devices, kitchen display systems and self-service kiosks, allowing businesses to manage operations through an integrated technology ecosystem.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Boston, Toast initially focused on helping restaurants replace traditional point-of-sale systems with cloud-based technology.