Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Toast, Inc. $TOST

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,866,235 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42,865 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Toast were worth $208,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TOST. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Toast by 2,432.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,215,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,957,000 after purchasing an additional 7,891,383 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Toast by 74.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,000,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,670,000 after purchasing an additional 6,398,674 shares in the last quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Toast in the 3rd quarter valued at about $124,032,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Toast by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,428,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,768,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Toast by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 7,517,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,982,566 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.91% of the company’s stock.

Toast Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of TOST opened at $28.54 on Wednesday. Toast, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.35 and a 12-month high of $49.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.86 and a beta of 1.81.

Toast (NYSE:TOST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Toast, Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Toast

In other news, CRO Jonathan Vassil sold 6,438 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total transaction of $168,611.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 146,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,839,925.42. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Elena Gomez sold 8,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.19, for a total value of $233,850.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 173,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,546.16. This represents a 4.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 39,783 shares of company stock valued at $1,041,917 over the last quarter. 12.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Toast in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 target price on shares of Toast in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Toast from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.00 price target on Toast in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $36.00 price target on Toast in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.48.

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.