Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $777.98 Million Stock Holdings in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. increased its stake in Toast, Inc. by 17.5% by purchasing an additional 3,490,686 shares, raising its total ownership to 23,454,209 shares worth approximately $777.98 million.
• Analysts have a generally positive outlook on Toast, with 15 analysts rating it as a Buy and an average price target set at $45.54.
• Toast reported quarterly earnings of $0.13 per share, missing estimates by $0.10, although revenue increased by 24.8% compared to the previous year.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST - Free Report) by 17.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,454,209 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,490,686 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 4.72% of Toast worth $777,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Toast in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its position in Toast by 57.1% in the 1st quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 1,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Toast by 862.1% in the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Toast by 29.2% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,257 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Toast by 227.1% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,472 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TOST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Toast in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Toast from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Toast from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Toast from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard Kent Bennett sold 9,712 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total value of $418,975.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 534,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,043,964.38. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paul D. Bell sold 12,500 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.38, for a total transaction of $529,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 226,892 shares in the company, valued at $9,615,682.96. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 405,554 shares of company stock valued at $17,333,686 over the last three months. 12.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Toast Price Performance

NYSE:TOST traded up $1.3010 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.9010. 5,377,983 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,614,547. The company has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.12 and a beta of 2.01. Toast, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.91 and a 1-year high of $49.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $44.76 and a 200 day moving average of $40.19.

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