Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.33.

TOST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Toast from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Toast from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho raised shares of Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Toast from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th.

Insider Transactions at Toast

In related news, President Stephen Fredette sold 8,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total value of $225,757.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 2,152,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,311,424.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Toast news, President Stephen Fredette sold 8,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total value of $225,757.14. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 2,152,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,311,424.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 2,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.64, for a total transaction of $65,971.72. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 170,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,372,414.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 804,707 shares of company stock worth $20,382,344. Insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOST. West Branch Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Toast in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Toast in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Toast in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Toast in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Toast in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Performance

Toast stock opened at $27.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.64 and a beta of 1.75. Toast has a fifty-two week low of $13.77 and a fifty-two week high of $28.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $25.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.67.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.04. Toast had a negative net margin of 3.10% and a negative return on equity of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Toast will post -0.1 earnings per share 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.