Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on Toast (NYSE:TOST)

Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Toast (NYSE:TOST) in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer’s target price points to a potential upside of 15.03% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on TOST. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Toast from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Toast from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Toast from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens boosted their price target on Toast from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Toast from $27.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.74.

Toast Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of TOST stock opened at $39.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.87 and its 200 day moving average is $31.25. The firm has a market cap of $18.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -307.62, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.97. Toast has a 52-week low of $16.13 and a 52-week high of $44.12.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.06. Toast had a negative return on equity of 3.84% and a negative net margin of 1.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Toast will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other news, CEO Aman Narang sold 1,646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 969,970 shares in the company, valued at $30,146,667.60. This trade represents a 0.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard Kent Bennett sold 100,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $3,667,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 418,591 shares in the company, valued at $15,349,731.97. This represents a 19.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 562,600 shares of company stock worth $21,823,932. 13.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Toast in the third quarter valued at approximately $438,301,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Toast by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,449,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $692,172,000 after purchasing an additional 8,205,053 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Toast by 2,889.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,829,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,427,000 after purchasing an additional 3,701,893 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Toast during the 4th quarter worth $60,878,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Toast by 1,475.0% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 850,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,091,000 after buying an additional 796,936 shares in the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.