Baird Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,688 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,869 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Toast were worth $317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Toast during the 4th quarter worth about $282,010,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,888,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Toast by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,853,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,088,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,403,896 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Toast by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,474,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,186,000 after acquiring an additional 4,147,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Toast by 255.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,504,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,729,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517,012 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TOST opened at $44.69 on Friday. Toast, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.32 and a 1-year high of $45.56. The company has a market capitalization of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4,464.04, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.55 and a 200-day moving average of $37.31.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.01). Toast had a return on equity of 1.54% and a net margin of 0.40%. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Research analysts expect that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TOST. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Toast from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research raised Toast from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Toast from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Toast from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Toast currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.91.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Deval L. Patrick sold 34,222 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.01, for a total value of $1,129,668.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,712.60. The trade was a 72.07% 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, Director Paul D. Bell sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.13, for a total value of $496,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 229,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,365,458.40. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $15,242,750. 13.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.