Toast, Inc. $TOST Stock Purchased by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 57.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 764,579 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 278,804 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.15% of Toast worth $22,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Toast by 36.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,977,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,478,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111,009 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Toast by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,950,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,508,000 after purchasing an additional 89,316 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Toast by 10.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,866,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,003,000 after buying an additional 465,006 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Toast by 25.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,321,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,561,000 after buying an additional 867,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in Toast by 0.4% during the first quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,817,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,176,000 after buying an additional 16,614 shares in the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Top Toast Stories

Here are a few of the latest stories about TOST:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial raised its price target to $40 from $38 and maintained a “buy” rating, signaling confidence in Toast’s potential. Truist Financial rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks also flagged Toast as a long-term momentum stock, a style-screen assessment rather than news of a change in its business outlook. Zacks momentum-stock article
• Negative Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Toast from “outperform” to “market perform” and cut its price target to $38 from $45. The reduced target and more cautious rating may weigh on sentiment, despite implying upside from the cited share price. Bernstein rating change

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TOST. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $40.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Toast in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Toast from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 11,886 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $348,854.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 171,957 shares in the company, valued at $5,046,937.95. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 9,368 shares of Toast stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $274,950.80. Following the sale, the president owned 941,692 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,638,660.20. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 195,933 shares of company stock worth $6,608,185 over the last quarter. 10.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Toast Trading Down 1.5%

Toast stock opened at $34.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.42. Toast, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.26 and a 12 month high of $38.64. The company has a market capitalization of $17.65 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37 and a beta of 1.74.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 26.39% and a net margin of 7.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Toast, Inc. will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Toast

Toast, Inc. provides a cloud-based technology platform designed for restaurants. Its products combine point-of-sale software and hardware with payment processing, helping restaurants manage in-person transactions and day-to-day operations. The platform includes tools for online ordering, delivery, marketing, customer loyalty, payroll, and team management, alongside features for managing menus and restaurant operations. Restaurants can use Toast’s products together or select services to fit their needs.