Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Toast (NYSE:TOST)

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 16,718 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 36% compared to the average volume of 12,284 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Toast from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Toast in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. BNP Paribas Exane cut Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Toast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Toast from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.11.

Trending Headlines about Toast

Here are the key news stories impacting Toast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street broker recommendations remain broadly supportive, suggesting analysts view Toast as a potentially attractive investment despite the recent controversy. Investor sentiment could benefit if the company maintains its growth outlook. Toast Is Considered a Good Investment by Brokers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect third-quarter 2026 results to show continued customer growth, higher payment volumes and greater software adoption. These trends could support revenue growth and demonstrate ongoing demand for Toast’s platform, although investors will also focus on margins and costs. Toast Q3 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Toast shares remain above their 200-day moving average but below the 52-week high, reflecting a stock with positive longer-term momentum but elevated volatility. The company’s beta of 1.74 also indicates that legal and earnings news may produce outsized price swings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high investor attention—including heavy online searches and the vesting of 3,566 restricted stock units held by Anutthara Bharadwaj—may increase trading activity, but neither development by itself materially changes Toast’s fundamentals. Investors Search Toast
• Negative Sentiment: Trading in Toast put options rose about 36% above average, signaling increased demand for downside protection or bearish speculation ahead of the lawsuit and earnings updates.
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC and state lawsuits are likely to weigh on Toast’s valuation in the near term because potential financial liabilities, compliance changes and reputational damage could offset otherwise solid operating growth. FTC Sues Toast

Toast Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE TOST opened at $31.69 on Friday. Toast has a twelve month low of $22.26 and a twelve month high of $39.67. The stock has a market cap of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63 and a beta of 1.74. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.06 and its 200-day moving average is $29.40.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 23.90% and a net margin of 7.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Toast will post 1.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Brian Elworthy sold 6,507 shares of Toast stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total value of $190,980.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 204,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,988,075.05. The trade was a 3.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 7,623 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.19, for a total transaction of $230,138.37. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 77,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,430.56. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 534,830 shares of company stock valued at $18,566,600 in the last 90 days. 10.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TOST. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Toast by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,977,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,478,000 after acquiring an additional 2,111,009 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Toast by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,950,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,508,000 after acquiring an additional 89,316 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Toast by 10.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,866,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,003,000 after acquiring an additional 465,006 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Toast by 25.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,321,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,561,000 after purchasing an additional 867,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in shares of Toast by 0.4% in the first quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,817,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,176,000 after purchasing an additional 16,614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

About Toast

Toast, Inc (NYSE:TOST) provides a cloud-based technology platform designed for restaurants. Its integrated system combines point-of-sale software and hardware with payment processing, helping restaurants manage sales, orders, menus, guest interactions and day-to-day operations from a unified platform.

The company offers products and services including online ordering, delivery management, digital ordering and payment tools, restaurant websites, gift cards, loyalty programs, marketing, labor management, payroll, inventory management, reporting and analytics.