Bank of Nova Scotia Buys Shares of 123,191 Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 123,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,585,000. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.14% of Upstart at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Upstart by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,793,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,843,000 after buying an additional 369,640 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,846,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,711,000 after acquiring an additional 29,664 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 886.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 709,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,695,000 after acquiring an additional 637,706 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 657,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,459,000 after acquiring an additional 14,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 596,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,720,000 after purchasing an additional 180,204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $38.99 on Friday. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.60 and a 52 week high of $96.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.38. The company has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of -26.71 and a beta of 2.39.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 25.87% and a negative net margin of 20.20%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 16,070 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $1,269,851.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 295,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,353,333.74. The trade was a 5.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total value of $2,608,354.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,576,838.80. This trade represents a 42.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,062 shares of company stock valued at $5,247,182 over the last three months. 18.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on UPST shares. B. Riley upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Upstart from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $70.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upstart currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.38.

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.