Toast (NYSE:TOST) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $27.00. The stock had previously closed at $23.73, but opened at $25.18. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Toast shares last traded at $26.25, with a volume of 6,618,399 shares changing hands.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Toast from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas upgraded Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Toast from $22.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Toast from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Toast from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 50,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.90, for a total value of $1,145,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 25,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $582,163.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 50,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.90, for a total value of $1,145,000.00. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 25,422 shares in the company, valued at $582,163.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider James Michael Matlock sold 1,205 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.40, for a total value of $28,197.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,954 shares in the company, valued at $958,323.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 180,510 shares of company stock worth $4,381,885. 13.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Toast by 201.4% during the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 409,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,213,000 after purchasing an additional 273,879 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toast in the first quarter worth $11,762,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Toast in the first quarter worth $355,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Toast in the first quarter worth $1,763,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 3.7% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 642,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,015,000 after acquiring an additional 22,991 shares during the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Toast Stock Up 13.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $12.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -52.59 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.57.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Toast had a negative return on equity of 21.77% and a negative net margin of 6.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Toast, Inc. will post -0.22 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.