Loop Capital Initiates Coverage on Toast (NYSE:TOST)

Equities research analysts at Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Toast (NYSE:TOST) in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Loop Capital’s price objective points to a potential downside of 0.07% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on TOST. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $37.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Toast from $57.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wolfe Research lowered Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Toast from $60.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Toast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.88.

Toast Price Performance

NYSE TOST opened at $26.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $13.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.18 and a beta of 1.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.46. Toast has a 1-year low of $24.35 and a 1-year high of $49.66.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.08). Toast had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 5.56%.The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Toast will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toast declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other Toast news, CEO Aman Narang sold 8,591 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total value of $295,358.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 338,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,649,663. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 4,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total transaction of $167,293.08. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 910,606 shares in the company, valued at $31,306,634.28. The trade was a 0.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 100,856 shares of company stock worth $3,540,449 over the last ninety days. 12.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Toast by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 181,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,455,000 after acquiring an additional 26,032 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Toast by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 169,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,006,000 after acquiring an additional 8,676 shares in the last quarter. Fund Advisors of America Inc FL purchased a new stake in Toast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $290,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Toast by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 38,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayban acquired a new position in Toast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Toast Company Profile

Toast, Inc (NYSE: TOST) is a technology company that builds a cloud-based platform for restaurants and other foodservice businesses. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Toast offers integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems and a suite of software and hardware designed to streamline front-of-house and back-of-house operations. The company went public in 2021 and has positioned itself as a vertically integrated provider for the restaurant industry.

Toast’s product portfolio includes touchscreen POS terminals and handheld order-and-pay devices, kitchen display systems, and peripherals tailored for high-volume foodservice environments.