Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sees Large Volume Increase After Analyst Upgrade

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $13.50 to $15.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Approximately 10,689,789 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 87% from the previous session’s volume of 5,702,961 shares.The stock last traded at $89.37 and had previously closed at $88.77.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on UPST. Bank of America lifted their price target on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Upstart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.08.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $2,725,438.47. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,512 shares in the company, valued at $4,023,499.92. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.59, for a total transaction of $37,295.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,710.99. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 347,868 shares of company stock valued at $24,056,862 in the last quarter. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,379,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,960,000 after purchasing an additional 308,200 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at $7,585,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Upstart by 886.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 709,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,695,000 after buying an additional 637,706 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $463,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Upstart Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.16 and a beta of 2.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.62.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.57% and a negative net margin of 30.15%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upstart Company Profile

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.