Upstart’s (UPST) Underperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reissued by research analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $10.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential downside of 61.79% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Upstart from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Upstart in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Upstart from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.40.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of Upstart stock opened at $26.17 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $24.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.16. Upstart has a 52-week low of $15.88 and a 52-week high of $72.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.02 and a beta of 2.01.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $140.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.28 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 46.76% and a negative return on equity of 35.47%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Upstart will post -2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.84, for a total transaction of $33,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 354,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,982,405.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.84, for a total transaction of $33,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 354,090 shares in the company, valued at $11,982,405.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total transaction of $1,578,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 893,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,510,510.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,419 shares of company stock worth $1,750,272 over the last 90 days. 18.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Upstart by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,013,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,589,000 after buying an additional 157,719 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Upstart by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,018,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,610,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 1.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 718,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,513,000 after buying an additional 8,091 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Upstart by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 573,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 17,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 121.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 508,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,500,000 after buying an additional 279,110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.