Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.61.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on UPST shares. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Upstart from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Upstart from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “sell” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company.

Upstart Price Performance

NASDAQ UPST opened at $40.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.83 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.35. Upstart has a 52-week low of $19.84 and a 52-week high of $49.62.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued 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. Upstart had a negative net margin of 38.05% and a negative return on equity of 32.01%. The company had revenue of $127.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.34) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 directly owns 878,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,898,165.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Upstart news, CTO Paul Gu sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.86, for a total transaction 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chief Legal Officer Scott Darling sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 164,870 shares in the company, valued at $7,419,150. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 161,459 shares of company stock worth $6,080,644. Company insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UPST. Anfield Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in Upstart by 80.6% during the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 259.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 144.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently 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.