Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish on Toast: Of 27 brokerages, 16 rate the stock a buy and 11 recommend holding it, with an average 12-month price target of $39.12.
• Toast reported quarterly revenue of $1.91 billion, exceeding estimates and rising 23.1% year over year, but adjusted earnings of $0.26 per share missed the $0.32 consensus forecast.
• Insiders have been selling shares: Executives sold 522,533 shares worth approximately $18.2 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company.

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.1154.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Toast from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Toast from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Toast Stock Performance

NYSE TOST opened at $29.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06 and a beta of 1.72. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $33.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.90. Toast has a one year low of $22.26 and a one year high of $40.95.

Toast (NYSE:TOST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 23.90% and a net margin of 7.14%.The company's revenue was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Toast will post 1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, 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 value of $3,099,075.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 69,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,542,564.44. This represents a 54.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Elena Gomez sold 16,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total value of $570,851.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,963,092.46. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 522,533 shares of company stock worth $18,172,786. Corporate insiders own 10.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toast

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Toast by 138.8% in the second quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 264,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,807,000 after purchasing an additional 153,928 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Toast by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 970,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,008,000 after acquiring an additional 312,077 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Toast by 1,925.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 985,653 shares of the company's stock worth $35,001,000 after purchasing an additional 936,987 shares in the last quarter. Quantitative Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Toast by 120.1% in the second quarter. Quantitative Investment Management LLC now owns 63,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,775,000 after acquiring an additional 34,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lavelle Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Toast in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,458,000. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Toast

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.

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