First Trust Advisors LP Has $59.89 Million Holdings in Toast, Inc. $TOST

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,640,490 shares of the company’s stock after selling 239,668 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Toast were worth $59,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in TOST. Cim LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 0.7% during the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 38,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Toast by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 13,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Toast by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Purus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Toast by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its position in Toast by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 14,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Toast from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group set a $40.00 price objective on Toast in a report on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Toast from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Toast from $43.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Toast from $51.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Toast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.46.

Toast Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of TOST opened at $28.88 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.87 and its 200-day moving average is $35.12. Toast, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.35 and a 12 month high of $49.66. The firm has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.48 and a beta of 1.95.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toast announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Toast news, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total transaction of $113,557.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 235,757 shares in the company, valued at $8,105,325.66. This trade represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Stephen Fredette sold 4,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total value of $167,293.08. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 910,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,306,634.28. This represents a 0.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 100,856 shares of company stock valued at $3,540,449. Corporate insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

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.