Aristides Capital LLC Invests $3.84 Million in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Key Points

• Aristides Capital LLC initiated a new position in Toast during the first quarter, buying 145,000 shares worth about $3.84 million. The stake represents roughly 0.6% of the fund’s holdings.
• Several insiders sold shares over the past 90 days, including CFO Elena Gomez and General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy, with total insider sales valued at about $4.28 million.
• Analysts remain generally positive on Toast, with the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $36.96, despite the company recently missing EPS estimates while posting 21.9% revenue growth year over year.

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 145,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,844,000. Toast comprises approximately 0.6% of Aristides Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TOST. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toast by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 13,755 shares of the company's stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in Toast by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 8,023 shares of the company's stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Toast by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 67,909 shares of the company's stock worth $1,800,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Toast by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,857 shares of the company's stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory raised its position in Toast by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 12,689 shares of the company's stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 11,605 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.85, for a total value of $334,804.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 185,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,341,577.50. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 108,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total value of $2,796,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 189,642 shares in the company, valued at $4,909,831.38. This represents a 36.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,265 shares of company stock valued at $4,278,832. 10.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital started coverage on shares of Toast in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "hold" rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Toast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on Toast from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.96.

Toast Stock Performance

NYSE:TOST opened at $28.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.64 billion, a PE ratio of 43.66 and a beta of 1.74. Toast, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.26 and a fifty-two week high of $49.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.04.

Toast (NYSE:TOST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 20.86% and a net margin of 6.39%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Toast, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Toast Profile

Toast, Inc NYSE: TOST is a technology company that builds a cloud-based platform for restaurants and other foodservice businesses. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Toast offers integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems and a suite of software and hardware designed to streamline front-of-house and back-of-house operations. The company went public in 2021 and has positioned itself as a vertically integrated provider for the restaurant industry.

Toast's product portfolio includes touchscreen POS terminals and handheld order-and-pay devices, kitchen display systems, and peripherals tailored for high-volume foodservice environments.

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