Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) Position Increased by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) by 76.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,803 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,688 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Upstart were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,793,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,843,000 after acquiring an additional 369,640 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Upstart by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 83,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,155,000 after purchasing an additional 23,324 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $319,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $979,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,854,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UPST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. B. Riley raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Upstart currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.38.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In related news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,524 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.01, for a total value of $357,441.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,157,032.14. This represents a 7.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 12,007 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 value of $948,793.14. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,006,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,541,452.98. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,062 shares of company stock worth $5,247,182. 18.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $35.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of -24.58 and a beta of 2.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.11 and a 200-day moving average of $60.47. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $20.60 and a one year high of $96.43.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 25.87% and a negative net margin of 20.20%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal 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.