Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Decreases Position in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lessened its stake in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 92.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,937 shares of the company’s stock after selling 142,299 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP’s holdings in Toast were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position 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 during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Toast by 74.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,000,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,670,000 after buying an additional 6,398,674 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Toast during the 2nd quarter valued at $219,324,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Toast by 108.3% during 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 period. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. bought a new position in shares of Toast during the 3rd quarter worth $124,032,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Performance

Shares of TOST opened at $27.60 on Tuesday. Toast, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.35 and a 52-week high of $49.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.10 and a beta of 1.95.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.08). Toast had a net margin of 5.56% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Toast, Inc. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Toast declared that its board has authorized 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 usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Aman Narang sold 8,591 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 transaction of $295,358.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 338,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,649,663. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Elena Gomez sold 6,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.38, for a total transaction of $229,383.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 162,153 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,820.14. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 100,856 shares of company stock valued at $3,540,449 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TOST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore upgraded Toast from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Toast from $47.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Toast from $48.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Toast from $43.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on shares of Toast in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.46.

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.