Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Rating Increased to Sell at The Goldman Sachs Group

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) was upgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $71.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 4.22% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on UPST. Barclays boosted their price target on Upstart from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America upgraded Upstart from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler raised Upstart to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Stephens assumed coverage on Upstart in a report on Thursday, June 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $70.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.62.

Upstart Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $74.13 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -98.84 and a beta of 2.37. Upstart has a 52-week low of $20.60 and a 52-week high of $96.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.00.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $213.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.08 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 9.20% and a negative return on equity of 15.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 67.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.31) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total value of $320,280.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 24,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,971,563.61. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 13,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.97, for a total transaction of $634,658.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 311,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,624,391.32. This trade represents a 4.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,983 shares of company stock valued at $6,537,899. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Upstart by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Upstart by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Upstart by 23.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.