Toast (NYSE:TOST) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Stephens raised their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $30.00. Stephens currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Toast traded as high as $30.49 and last traded at $30.32, with a volume of 1206291 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.54.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TOST. Mizuho upgraded Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $33.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Toast from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Toast from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Toast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.78.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other news, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 125,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.21, for a total value of $3,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 134,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,454.67. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Stephen Fredette sold 40,459 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $1,174,929.36. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,700,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,376,189.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.21, for a total value of $3,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 134,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,454.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,006,021 shares of company stock worth $26,808,638. Company insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TOST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Toast by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,677,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,248 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 43,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in Toast during the 1st quarter worth $299,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Toast during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. lifted its position in Toast by 171.5% in the first quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 112,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after acquiring an additional 70,972 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.16. The company has a market cap of $13.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.64 and a beta of 1.76.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Toast had a negative return on equity of 11.27% and a negative net margin of 3.10%. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Toast, Inc. will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

About Toast

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.