Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded by Citigroup to “Buy” Rating

Citigroup upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $87.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $56.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on UPST. Wedbush raised shares of Upstart from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Upstart from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPST traded up $25.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $81.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 39,961,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,792,123. Upstart has a 12-month low of $19.84 and a 12-month high of $82.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.62 and a beta of 1.97.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.42, for a total value of $51,630.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 343,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,261.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Paul Gu sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total value of $400,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 894,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,794,106.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.42, for a total value of $51,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 343,093 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,261.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 312,959 shares of company stock valued at $13,724,175. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Upstart by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 17,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,149 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Upstart during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $658,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Upstart by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 142,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,837,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Upstart by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 39,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 6,088 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Upstart by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.