Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 4,147,430 Shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,474,232 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,147,430 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Toast worth $1,548,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TOST. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Toast in the 4th quarter worth about $4,928,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 77.7% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 43,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 19,063 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 48.3% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 818,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,829,000 after purchasing an additional 266,471 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Toast by 330.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 335,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,246,000 after purchasing an additional 257,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Toast by 4,351.4% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 96,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,519,000 after purchasing an additional 94,382 shares during the period. 82.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Toast

In other Toast news, Director Christopher P. Comparato sold 70,000 shares of Toast stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.71, for a total value of $2,499,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 164,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,884,865.16. This trade represents a 29.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 653 shares of Toast stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total value of $25,878.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 209,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,290,833.78. This represents a 0.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 270,770 shares of company stock valued at $9,409,211. 13.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TOST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Toast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on Toast from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target (down previously from $44.00) on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Toast and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Toast from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.48.

Toast Price Performance

Shares of TOST opened at $35.36 on Friday. Toast, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.32 and a 1 year high of $44.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.33. The firm has a market cap of $17.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -3,532.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.99.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Toast had a net margin of 0.40% and a return on equity of 1.54%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Toast 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.