Toast Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TOST)

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 22,162 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 36% compared to the average volume of 16,325 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Toast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Toast in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Toast from $47.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Toast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Toast from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, CEO Aman Narang sold 13,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total transaction of $352,595.97. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,414,600.47. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Elena Gomez sold 8,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total value of $233,850.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 173,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,546.16. This trade represents a 4.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,783 shares of company stock valued at $1,041,917. Corporate insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TOST. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 16,379 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Toast by 24.0% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 81,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,613,000 after purchasing an additional 15,774 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Toast by 2.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,212,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,039,000 after purchasing an additional 245,276 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC bought a new position in Toast in the second quarter worth approximately $4,479,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Toast by 24.6% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,030,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,619,000 after purchasing an additional 203,404 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE TOST traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,165,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,498,474. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.25. Toast has a 12-month low of $22.26 and a 12-month high of $49.66. The firm has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28 and a beta of 1.81.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued 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 return on equity of 20.86% and a net margin of 6.39%.The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Toast will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.