Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Toast (NYSE:TOST) Stock Price

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has lowered Toast's (NYSE:TOST) price target from $50.00 to $42.00, maintaining a "market perform" rating for the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, analysts indicate a potential upside of 17.01% from Toast's current price, with a consensus target price of $46.30.
• Toast reported a revenue increase of 24.8% year-over-year for the last quarter, although it missed earnings expectations by $0.10 per share.

Toast (NYSE:TOST - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $50.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "market perform" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective points to a potential upside of 17.01% from the stock's current price.

TOST has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Toast from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Toast from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Toast from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Toast from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Toast in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.30.

Toast Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TOST traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.90. The stock had a trading volume of 4,147,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,542,724. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.78. The firm has a market cap of $18.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.67 and a beta of 2.00. Toast has a 1 year low of $26.91 and a 1 year high of $49.66.

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

Insider Activity at Toast

In other Toast news, CEO Aman Narang sold 1,719 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.38, for a total transaction of $83,165.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 304,300 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,034. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul D. Bell sold 12,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 226,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,615,682.96. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,423 shares of company stock valued at $913,065 over the last 90 days. 12.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Toast by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,751 shares of the company's stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 3,713 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Toast by 4,500.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 128,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,248,000 after purchasing an additional 125,285 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Toast by 91.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,692 shares of the company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Toast by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 602,083 shares of the company's stock worth $19,971,000 after acquiring an additional 19,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Toast by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,892 shares of the company's stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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