Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $108.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $51.40, but opened at $43.02. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Upstart shares last traded at $46.78, with a volume of 9,052,653 shares.

UPST has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Upstart from $105.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Upstart from $70.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 16,070 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $1,269,851.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 295,537 shares in the company, valued at $23,353,333.74. The trade was a 5.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 12,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $948,793.14. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,006,599 shares in the company, valued at $79,541,452.98. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,395 shares of company stock worth $2,638,828. 16.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Upstart by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Upstart by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.30. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.83 and a beta of 2.39.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $213.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $201.08 million. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 25.87% and a negative net margin of 20.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 67.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.31) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal 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.