Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $33.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $15.00.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on UPST. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Mizuho raised shares of Upstart from an underperform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Upstart in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They set a sell rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reissued an underperform rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a sell rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $25.50 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $24.50.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST traded up $2.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.25. The stock had a trading volume of 17,062,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,434,901. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $25.50 and its 200 day moving average is $26.06. Upstart has a 52 week low of $19.84 and a 52 week high of $49.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.60 and a beta of 1.97.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. The company had revenue of $127.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.55 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 38.05% and a negative return on equity of 31.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.34) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Upstart will post -2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Paul Gu sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $2,361,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 893,596 shares in the company, valued at $26,378,953.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 1,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.61, for a total transaction of $30,424.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,977 shares in the company, valued at $716,490.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 80,000 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,378,953.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 171,610 shares of company stock worth $4,725,533 over the last quarter. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings 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. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.