Toast (NYSE:TOST) Shares Break Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.00 and traded as high as $34.66. Toast shares last traded at $33.3920, with a volume of 11,383,493 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on TOST. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Toast from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Toast from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Toast from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Toast from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Toast from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.11.

Toast Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.39. The firm has a market cap of $17.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.81 and a beta of 1.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other news, CEO Aman Narang sold 124,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total transaction of $4,395,087.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 175,458 shares in the company, valued at $6,191,912.82. This represents a 41.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Elena Gomez sold 16,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.29, for a total value of $570,851.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,963,092.46. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 520,550 shares of company stock worth $18,096,931. 10.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Toast by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,977,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,478,000 after acquiring an additional 2,111,009 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake 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 increased its stake in shares of Toast by 25.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,321,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,561,000 after acquiring an additional 867,509 shares during the period. Finally, Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in Toast by 0.4% during the first quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,817,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,176,000 after purchasing an additional 16,614 shares in the last quarter. 82.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.