Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sets New 1-Year High Following Strong Earnings

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $89.47 and last traded at $87.49, with a volume of 13521262 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.34.

The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.57% and a negative net margin of 30.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on UPST. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BTIG Research raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.08.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In related news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total value of $2,608,354.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares in the company, valued at $3,576,838.80. This trade represents a 42.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.59, for a total transaction of $37,295.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,961 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,710.99. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 347,868 shares of company stock valued at $24,056,862. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 21,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after acquiring an additional 4,613 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,063,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Upstart by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 596,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,720,000 after purchasing an additional 180,204 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Upstart by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,846,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,711,000 after buying an additional 29,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $321,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.62. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.99 and a beta of 2.25.

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.