Morgan Stanley Raises Toast (NYSE:TOST) Price Target to $50.00

Toast (NYSE:TOST) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $46.00 to $50.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 32.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on TOST. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Toast from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Toast from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Toast from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down previously from $44.00) on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toast presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.23.

Toast Stock Down 6.4 %

Toast stock opened at $37.68 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.44. The company has a market cap of $17.75 billion, a PE ratio of -3,764.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.98. Toast has a twelve month low of $20.57 and a twelve month high of $44.12.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 1.54% and a net margin of 0.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Toast will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Toast news, Director David Yuan sold 189,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.01, for a total transaction of $8,162,652.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 198,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,551,635.29. This trade represents a 48.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total transaction of $25,878.39. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 209,206 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 339,564 shares of company stock valued at $13,577,845 over the last ninety days. 13.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Toast

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Toast by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,474,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,548,186,000 after buying an additional 4,147,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Toast by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 41,961,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,529,657,000 after acquiring an additional 785,641 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Toast by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,853,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,088,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403,896 shares in the last quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new stake in Toast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $438,301,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Toast by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,325,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,689,000 after purchasing an additional 206,789 shares during the period. 82.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.