Needham & Company LLC Increases Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Price Target to $108.00

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $100.00 to $108.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 28.33% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on UPST. Citigroup upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. B. Riley upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.83.

Upstart Price Performance

Upstart stock opened at $84.16 on Wednesday. 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 has a one year low of $20.60 and a one year high of $96.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $67.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.82.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Upstart news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total transaction of $2,608,354.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,576,838.80. The trade was a 42.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 1,511 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 20,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,397,488.95. The trade was a 7.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 125.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.