Piper Sandler Upgrades Toast (NYSE:TOST) to “Strong-Buy”

Toast (NYSE:TOST) was upgraded by equities researchers at Piper Sandler to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $43.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $60.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.62.

Toast Stock Performance

Shares of TOST opened at $24.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87 and a beta of 1.76. Toast has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $49.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.60.

Toast declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Toast news, CEO Aman Narang sold 13,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total value of $352,595.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,414,600.47. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 108,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total transaction of $2,796,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 189,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,909,831.38. This trade represents a 36.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 147,783 shares of company stock worth $3,838,037. Company insiders own 10.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Toast by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,428,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,768,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,545 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Toast by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,764,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,634,339,000 after buying an additional 352,435 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Toast by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,157,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,259,000 after buying an additional 157,394 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Toast by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,372,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,332,000 after buying an additional 653,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Toast by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,820,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,729,000 after acquiring an additional 282,282 shares during the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Toast

Toast, Inc (NYSE: TOST) is a technology company that builds a cloud-based platform for restaurants and other foodservice businesses. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Toast offers integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems and a suite of software and hardware designed to streamline front-of-house and back-of-house operations. The company went public in 2021 and has positioned itself as a vertically integrated provider for the restaurant industry.

Toast’s product portfolio includes touchscreen POS terminals and handheld order-and-pay devices, kitchen display systems, and peripherals tailored for high-volume foodservice environments.