Toast (NYSE:TOST) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Toast (NYSE:TOST) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Toast from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Toast from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Truist Financial upped their price target on Toast from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Toast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.12.

Toast Price Performance

TOST stock opened at $30.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.92. Toast has a 1 year low of $22.26 and a 1 year high of $39.72.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Aman Narang sold 124,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total value of $4,395,087.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 175,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,191,912.82. This represents a 41.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 85,280 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.34, for a total transaction of $3,099,075.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 69,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,564.44. This represents a 54.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 522,533 shares of company stock worth $18,172,786 over the last 90 days. 10.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Toast by 138.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 264,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,807,000 after buying an additional 153,928 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Toast by 47.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 970,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,008,000 after purchasing an additional 312,077 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Toast by 1,925.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 985,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,001,000 after buying an additional 936,987 shares in the last quarter. Quantitative Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Toast by 120.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quantitative Investment Management LLC now owns 63,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,775,000 after buying an additional 34,831 shares during the period. Finally, Lavelle Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Toast during the first quarter worth $1,458,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Company Profile

Toast, Inc (NYSE:TOST) provides a cloud-based technology platform designed for restaurants and other food-service businesses. Its platform combines point-of-sale hardware and software with tools for order management, payments, menu management, reporting and business operations.

The company also offers products and services that support employee management, payroll, inventory, scheduling, online ordering, delivery, gift cards, loyalty programs and guest engagement. Toast’s integrated approach is intended to help restaurants manage front-of-house and back-of-house activities through a single platform.

Toast was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.