42,600 Shares in Toast, Inc. $TOST Acquired by Polianta Ltd

Polianta Ltd acquired a new stake in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 42,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 7.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,428,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,768,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,545 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Toast by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,764,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,634,339,000 after purchasing an additional 352,435 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Toast by 74.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,000,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,670,000 after purchasing an additional 6,398,674 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Toast by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,538,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,244,000 after purchasing an additional 325,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Toast by 2,432.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,215,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,957,000 after purchasing an additional 7,891,383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Up 1.7%

Toast stock opened at $26.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.27 and a beta of 1.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.61. Toast, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.35 and a 52 week high of $49.66.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.08). Toast had a net margin of 5.56% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Toast announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Toast news, CEO Aman Narang sold 1,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.34, for a total value of $50,000.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 340,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,337,535.82. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 1,454 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.34, for a total transaction of $44,114.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 139,893 shares in the company, valued at $4,244,353.62. The trade was a 1.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 100,856 shares of company stock valued at $3,540,449 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on TOST. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Toast from $43.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 price target on shares of Toast in a report on Friday, February 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Toast in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Toast in a report on Monday, December 29th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Toast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.46.

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.