Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Trading 7.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s stock price was up 7.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $46.38 and last traded at $46.38. Approximately 5,172,642 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 6,587,948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on UPST. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Upstart from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Upstart from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho upped their target price on Upstart from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Upstart from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Upstart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.61.

Upstart Stock Up 8.9 %

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.48. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.09 and a beta of 2.01.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $127.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.55 million. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.01% and a negative net margin of 38.05%. The business’s revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.34) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total value of $26,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,797,791.38. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total value of $26,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,797,791.38. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.86, for a total value of $1,838,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 878,565 shares in the company, valued at $35,898,165.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 198,459 shares of company stock valued at $7,789,750. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its stake in Upstart by 1,106.7% in the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 97,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 89,219 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Upstart by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,013,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,589,000 after buying an additional 157,719 shares in the last quarter. LifePro Asset Management acquired a new stake in Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,008,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its stake in Upstart by 273.8% in the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 41,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 30,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Upstart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,358,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions.