Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Up 6.5% – Time to Buy?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s stock price traded up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $70.45 and last traded at $69.82. 3,446,957 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 4,350,811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.55.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on UPST shares. Wedbush upped 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. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $95.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $87.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.80.

Upstart Trading Up 5.7 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.34. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.91 and a beta of 2.26.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.31). Upstart had a negative net margin of 30.15% and a negative return on equity of 32.57%. The firm had revenue of $162.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.94 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.48) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $77,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 334,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,272,608.10. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 65,000 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.58, for a total transaction of $4,327,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 878,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,494,857.70. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 392,535 shares of company stock valued at $26,968,327 over the last three months. 18.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $334,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 94.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 55,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,222,000 after buying an additional 26,917 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at $939,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth $676,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Upstart by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 725,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,031,000 after acquiring an additional 282,481 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.