Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,859,633 shares of the company’s stock after selling 173,262 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 1.33% of Toast worth $181,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Toast by 1,555.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 17,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 16,379 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Toast by 24.0% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 81,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,613,000 after acquiring an additional 15,774 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Toast by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,212,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,039,000 after acquiring an additional 245,276 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toast in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,479,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Toast by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,030,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,619,000 after purchasing an additional 203,404 shares in the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on TOST. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Toast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Toast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Toast in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Toast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.59.

Key Toast News

Here are the key news stories impacting Toast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs upgraded Toast (TOST) to Buy, citing new products and market expansion as drivers of longer-term growth. Toast upgraded to Buy at Goldman Sachs on new product and market expansion efforts
• Neutral Sentiment: Toast remains in focus after several insider sales were disclosed, including a recent sale by CRO Jonathan Vassil under a pre-arranged trading plan, which may add some caution but does not necessarily signal a change in business fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: A broader payments-industry article noted that bank efforts to own more of the debit-network infrastructure could reshape competition across merchant payments, an indirect theme for Toast’s competitive landscape. Fiserv’s Debit Network Talks Raise a Bigger Question for Visa and Mastercard (TOST)
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Toast (TOST) from Strong-Buy to Hold, which signals some near-term skepticism after the stock’s recent run. Zacks.com

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 11,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.85, for a total transaction of $334,804.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 185,150 shares in the company, valued at $5,341,577.50. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 3,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total value of $94,594.50. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 69,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,101,078.98. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 159,265 shares of company stock valued at $4,278,832 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.03% of the company’s stock.

Toast Trading Up 0.9%

TOST stock opened at $28.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.34 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $25.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.47. Toast, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.26 and a 12-month high of $49.66.

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.