Toast (NYSE:TOST) Stock Gets Downgrade from Sanford C. Bernstein

Toast (NYSE:TOST) was downgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They presently have a $38.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $45.00. Sanford C. Bernstein‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.83% from the company’s previous close.

TOST has been the topic of several other reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Toast from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Toast from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Toast from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $40.00 target price on Toast in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.46.

Toast Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE TOST opened at $34.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 1.74. Toast has a 52 week low of $22.26 and a 52 week high of $38.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.42.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Toast had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 26.39%. The business’s revenue was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Toast will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Stephen Fredette sold 9,368 shares of Toast stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $274,950.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 941,692 shares in the company, valued at $27,638,660.20. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Aman Narang sold 14,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $431,826.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,540,037.05. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 195,933 shares of company stock worth $6,608,185 in the last 90 days. 10.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Toast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 213.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Toast during the third quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

About Toast

Toast, Inc. provides a cloud-based technology platform designed for restaurants. Its products combine point-of-sale software and hardware with payment processing, helping restaurants manage in-person transactions and day-to-day operations. The platform includes tools for online ordering, delivery, marketing, customer loyalty, payroll, and team management, alongside features for managing menus and restaurant operations. Restaurants can use Toast’s products together or select services to fit their needs.