Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $35.00. The stock had previously closed at $34.18, but opened at $35.22. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Upstart shares last traded at $36.54, with a volume of 1,969,680 shares changing hands.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on UPST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Upstart from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho raised Upstart from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Upstart from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “sell” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.86.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In related news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 2,997 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.62, for a total value of $76,783.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 64,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,662,046.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 2,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.62, for a total transaction of $76,783.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,662,046.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $2,361,600.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 893,596 shares in the company, valued at $26,378,953.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 171,610 shares of company stock worth $4,725,533. 18.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 1,106.7% in the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 97,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 89,219 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,017,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Upstart by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,013,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,589,000 after acquiring an additional 157,719 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Upstart by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,358,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.61 and a beta of 1.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.95.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.34) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.7 EPS for the current year.

Upstart Company Profile

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.