Toast (NYSE:TOST) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wells Fargo & Company

Toast (NYSE:TOST) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

TOST has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Toast from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Toast from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Toast from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Toast from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Toast from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.30.

Toast Stock Down 1.1%

TOST stock opened at $38.15 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.01. The stock has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.19 and a beta of 1.94. Toast has a fifty-two week low of $28.12 and a fifty-two week high of $49.66.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Toast will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Toast

In other Toast news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 9,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $321,960.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 149,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,318,780.32. This represents a 5.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Aman Narang sold 13,652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $485,465.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 318,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,313,414. This trade represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,196 shares of company stock valued at $2,398,513 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Toast by 331.0% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 8,601,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,978,000 after buying an additional 6,606,245 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Toast by 14,258.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,474,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,587,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,317 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Toast during the second quarter worth $219,324,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Toast by 108.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,887,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,333,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Toast by 17.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,454,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,978,000 after buying an additional 3,490,686 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

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.