Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 106,060 call options on the company. This is an increase of 56% compared to the typical volume of 68,197 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on UPST. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Upstart from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $25.50 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. BTIG Research started coverage on Upstart in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “sell” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Upstart from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Upstart from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Upstart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.45.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPST opened at $39.74 on Friday. Upstart has a fifty-two week low of $19.84 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of -19.29 and a beta of 2.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.86.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.01% and a negative net margin of 38.05%. The business had revenue of $127.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 3,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.35, for a total transaction of $128,894.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,985.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 3,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.35, for a total value of $128,894.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,358,985.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chief Legal Officer Scott Darling sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 164,870 shares in the company, valued at $7,419,150. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 160,959 shares of company stock valued at $6,042,324. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,017,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Upstart by 1,792.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 262,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,190,000 after acquiring an additional 277,896 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Upstart by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,013,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,589,000 after acquiring an additional 157,719 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its stake in Upstart by 349.1% in the 1st quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 189,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,093,000 after purchasing an additional 147,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 442.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 148,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 120,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.