Benjamin Edwards Inc. Makes New Investment in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Toast by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,474,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,186,000 after buying an additional 4,147,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Toast by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 41,961,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,529,657,000 after purchasing an additional 785,641 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Toast by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,853,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,088,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403,896 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Toast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $282,010,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Toast by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,061,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,970,000 after purchasing an additional 195,805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 70,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.71, for a total value of $2,499,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 164,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,884,865.16. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 70,340 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.87, for a total transaction of $2,382,415.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 1,574,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,322,082.92. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 335,991 shares of company stock worth $11,614,520. 13.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Toast Price Performance

Shares of TOST opened at $40.85 on Monday. Toast, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.32 and a 1-year high of $44.12. The stock has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a PE ratio of -4,080.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.91.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on TOST. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Toast from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.91.

Toast Profile

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.