Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sees Strong Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) saw strong trading volume on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $108.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. 10,689,789 shares were traded during mid-day 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.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on UPST. B. Riley upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $49.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their target price on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Upstart news, CTO Paul Gu sold 87,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.39, for a total transaction of $6,078,564.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 863,065 shares in the company, valued at $59,888,080.35. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 1,511 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $105,543.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,397,488.95. This represents a 7.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 241,201 shares of company stock valued at $17,003,724 over the last three months. 18.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 369,640 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Upstart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,846,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,711,000 after purchasing an additional 29,664 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted 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 valued at $84,960,000 after purchasing an additional 308,200 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 153.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,246,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,886,000 after purchasing an additional 754,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Upstart by 300.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,061,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,357,000 after buying an additional 796,252 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Upstart Trading Down 5.2 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.99 and a 200-day moving average of $54.82. The company has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.61 and a beta of 2.25.

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