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

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $44.00 to $45.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Toast traded as high as $45.56 and last traded at $44.90, with a volume of 2123927 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.87.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Toast from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Toast from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BNP Paribas set a $37.00 price objective on Toast and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.91.

Insider Transactions at Toast

In related news, Director Deval L. Patrick sold 34,222 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.01, for a total value of $1,129,668.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,260 shares in the company, valued at $437,712.60. This represents a 72.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 47,073 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.03, for a total value of $1,648,967.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,491,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,256,808.19. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 335,991 shares of company stock worth $11,614,520 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,010,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Toast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,888,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Toast by 14,258.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,474,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,587,000 after buying an additional 5,436,317 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Toast by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,853,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,088,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,403,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toast by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,474,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,147,430 shares during the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toast Stock Up 4.3%

The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.69 and its 200 day moving average is $37.00. The company has a market cap of $22.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,463.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.98.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.01). Toast had a return on equity of 1.54% and a net margin of 0.40%. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Analysts predict that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal 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.