Toast (NYSE:TOST) Now Covered by Bank of America

Equities researchers at Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Toast (NYSE:TOST) in a report issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 30.12% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Toast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Toast from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Toast from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.15.

Toast Stock Up 3.0%

TOST traded up $0.89 during trading on Thursday, reaching $30.74. The company had a trading volume of 380,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,965,396. The stock has a market cap of $15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 1.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.15. Toast has a 52 week low of $22.26 and a 52 week high of $39.72.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.06). Toast had a return on equity of 23.90% and a net margin of 7.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Toast will post 1.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Toast in the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Toast in the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Toast in the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Toast in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Toast by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 65,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786 shares during the period. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Toast

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.