Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) Short Interest Update

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,580,000 shares, a drop of 12.5% from the February 28th total of 26,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 5.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Toast from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Toast from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Toast from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BNP Paribas set a $37.00 target price on Toast and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Toast from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 2,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total value of $81,320.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 160,498 shares in the company, valued at $6,360,535.74. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 653 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total value of $25,878.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 209,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,290,833.78. This trade represents a 0.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 270,770 shares of company stock worth $9,409,211 over the last three months. 13.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Toast

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Toast by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 593,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,650,000 after buying an additional 16,684 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Toast by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 3,713 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Toast during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,296,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Toast during the 4th quarter worth about $280,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Toast in the 4th quarter valued at about $123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Price Performance

Toast stock traded down $3.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $32.12. 4,620,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,727,621. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.66. Toast has a 12 month low of $21.32 and a 12 month high of $44.12. The firm has a market cap of $15.87 billion, a PE ratio of -3,208.79, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.99.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Toast had a net margin of 0.40% and a return on equity of 1.54%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Toast will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

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.