Polianta Ltd Takes Position in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Polianta Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 42,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TOST. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Toast by 2,432.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,215,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,957,000 after buying an additional 7,891,383 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Toast by 74.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,000,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,670,000 after acquiring an additional 6,398,674 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the second quarter worth approximately $219,324,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Toast by 108.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,887,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,333,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Toast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,032,000. Institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE TOST opened at $26.07 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $28.67 and its 200 day moving average is $33.61. Toast, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.35 and a 52 week high of $49.66. The company has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.27 and a beta of 1.95.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Toast had a net margin of 5.56% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.05 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Toast declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on TOST shares. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $37.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $57.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on shares of Toast in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $39.00 price objective on Toast in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Toast in a report on Monday, December 29th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 6,672 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 transaction of $229,383.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 162,153 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,820.14. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total value of $113,557.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 235,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,105,325.66. The trade was a 1.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 100,856 shares of company stock valued at $3,540,449. 12.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.