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

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. The stock had previously closed at $61.59, but opened at $63.31. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $88.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $93.00. Upstart shares last traded at $61.23, with a volume of 2,084,860 shares trading hands.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Upstart from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Upstart to a “sell” rating and set a $71.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Upstart from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other Upstart news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 6,533 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total value of $457,701.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 24,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,725,087.38. The trade was a 20.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.05, for a total value of $2,502,103.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,159,470.70. This represents a 44.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,041 shares of company stock valued at $11,631,576 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the 1st quarter worth $550,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Upstart by 482.3% during the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 2,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Upstart by 175.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 8,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the 1st quarter worth $1,712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -798.50 and a beta of 2.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.07.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.09. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 5.95% and a negative net margin of 0.75%.The company had revenue of $257.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) EPS. Upstart’s revenue was up 101.6% on a year-over-year basis. Upstart has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

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.