Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Invests $782,000 in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC has invested $782,000 in Toast, Inc., acquiring 23,568 shares of the company in the 1st quarter.
• A significant increase in institutional holdings has been observed, with firms like Principal Financial Group and Two Sigma Investments increasing their stakes in Toast by over 900% in recent quarters.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Toast, with companies like JPMorgan Chase increasing their target from $42.00 to $52.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock's performance.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 23,568 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $782,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TOST. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Toast by 14,258.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,474,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $181,587,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,317 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Toast by 898.8% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,858,720 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,200,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572,503 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Toast by 914.4% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,846,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,744,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565,634 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Toast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,188,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of Toast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,684,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TOST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Toast from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Toast has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $45.54.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other news, CEO Aman Narang sold 13,829 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $588,977.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 302,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,883,389.82. This trade represents a 4.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 7,647 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $325,685.73. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 889,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,863,234.03. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 393,054 shares of company stock valued at $16,803,936. 12.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Toast Stock Performance

TOST opened at $42.5050 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.16. Toast, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.91 and a 52 week high of $49.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a PE ratio of 125.01 and a beta of 2.01.

Toast (NYSE:TOST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 4.07%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Toast Company 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.

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