Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Toast (NYSE:TOST) Stock Price

Toast (NYSE:TOST) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Citigroup from $51.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 49.92% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Toast from $48.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial set a $42.00 price objective on Toast in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore raised Toast from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $45.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Toast from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $43.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.18.

Toast Stock Up 7.2%

Shares of NYSE TOST traded up $1.88 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.02. The company had a trading volume of 20,464,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,085,071. The stock has a market cap of $14.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.15 and a beta of 1.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.43. Toast has a 12 month low of $25.91 and a 12 month high of $49.66.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 4.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Toast will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Toast announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other Toast news, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 3,303 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total transaction of $113,557.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 235,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,105,325.66. The trade was a 1.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 1,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.34, for a total transaction of $32,160.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 913,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,702,452.78. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 100,856 shares of company stock valued at $3,540,449 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Toast by 2,432.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,215,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,957,000 after buying an additional 7,891,383 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Toast by 331.0% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 8,601,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,606,245 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Toast during the fourth quarter worth about $202,808,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Toast by 108.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,887,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,333,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. acquired a new stake in Toast in the third quarter valued at $124,032,000. 82.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Toast

Here are the key news stories impacting Toast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a share buyback, a signal management sees value in the stock and should support EPS/share and market confidence. RTT News
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly revenue grew ~22% year-over-year and modestly beat consensus ($1.63B vs. $1.62B), underscoring demand resilience in Toast’s restaurant software/payments ecosystem. MarketBeat
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish analyst/industry takes remain in place — Canaccord Genuity kept a Buy rating and Seeking Alpha published a bullish note arguing Toast’s ARR growth, rising take rate and margin expansion provide a durable moat. These views help support investor sentiment. Canaccord Seeking Alpha
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released the full Q4 and FY2025 results and the earnings call transcript; useful detail for modeling but largely reiterates the mixed top-line vs. profit story. Business Wire
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage pieces and metric deep-dives (Zacks, Seeking Alpha transcript) provide context for investors but don’t change the headline mixed fundamentals. Zacks
• Negative Sentiment: Reported EPS came in below consensus (reported $0.16 vs. $0.24 expected per MarketBeat summary / other outlets), which is the principal near-term drag and likely explains some investor caution. MarketBeat EPS report
• Negative Sentiment: Needham cut its price target sharply from $60 to $35 (while keeping a Buy rating), reducing the street’s upside expectation and adding downward pressure on sentiment despite the retained buy stance. The Fly

About Toast

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.