Piper Sandler Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $105.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $85.00. Piper Sandler’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on UPST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $57.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $56.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush upped their price target 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. BTIG Research raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.83.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $84.16 on Wednesday. Upstart has a fifty-two week low of $20.60 and a fifty-two week high of $96.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.82. The firm has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.61 and a beta of 2.25.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 18,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.82, for a total value of $1,299,978.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 310,974 shares in the company, valued at $21,712,204.68. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.79, for a total value of $305,261.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,661.02. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 241,201 shares of company stock worth $17,003,724. 18.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Upstart by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Upstart by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 38,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Upstart by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Upstart by 5.1% in the third quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 5,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.