Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New $25.50 Million Investment in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 699,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,496,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned 0.15% of Toast as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOST. ValueAct Holdings L.P. acquired a new stake in Toast during the 3rd quarter worth about $438,301,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Toast by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,449,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $692,172,000 after acquiring an additional 8,205,053 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Toast by 129,058.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,074,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,072,680 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Toast during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,878,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Toast by 1,475.0% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 850,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,091,000 after acquiring an additional 796,936 shares during the period. 82.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on TOST shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Toast from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Toast in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Toast from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Toast in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.48.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other Toast news, President Stephen Fredette sold 1,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total transaction of $42,324.84. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,644,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,177,717.28. This represents a 0.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Brian R. Elworthy sold 653 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.63, for a total transaction of $25,878.39. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 209,206 shares in the company, valued at $8,290,833.78. This represents a 0.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 220,119 shares of company stock valued at $7,797,608 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.32% of the company’s stock.

Toast Stock Performance

Toast stock opened at $33.45 on Wednesday. Toast, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $44.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.51. The company has a market capitalization of $16.52 billion, a PE ratio of -3,341.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.99.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Toast had a return on equity of 1.54% and a net margin of 0.40%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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.