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

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $40.00. The stock had previously closed at $32.67, but opened at $38.39. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Toast shares last traded at $35.43, with a volume of 5,655,452 shares.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Toast from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Toast from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Toast from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Toast from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Toast from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.08, for a total transaction of $42,486.36. Following the sale, the executive now owns 39,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,238,040.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.08, for a total value of $42,486.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 39,834 shares in the company, valued at $1,238,040.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aman Narang sold 1,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.08, for a total transaction of $51,157.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 969,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,146,667.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,375,651 shares of company stock valued at $38,150,212. Company insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Toast

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Toast in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Toast in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in Toast in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Toast during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Toast during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toast Trading Up 14.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $17.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -128.96 and a beta of 1.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $28.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.97.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Toast had a negative return on equity of 11.27% and a negative net margin of 3.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Toast, Inc. will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current 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.