Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Given “Buy” Rating at BTIG Research

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at BTIG Research in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $43.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 25.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on UPST. Zacks Research raised Upstart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup reissued a “market underperform” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Upstart from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. B. Riley Financial dropped their target price on shares of Upstart from $66.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $40.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.93.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $34.33 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart has a 1-year low of $23.97 and a 1-year high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $308.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.30 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Upstart will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CEO Paul Gu acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.50 per share, for a total transaction of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 70,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,000. This trade represents a 250.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dave Girouard bought 170,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.37 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,948.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,512,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,025,077.17. The trade was a 2.04% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672. Insiders own 17.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Upstart by 154.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554,591 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,915,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 253.3% in the first quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,039 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,580,000. Finally, Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Upstart by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,480,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,625,000 after acquiring an additional 826,974 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Upstart Company Profile

Upstart Holdings, Inc operates a cloud-based lending marketplace that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess borrower creditworthiness. The company partners with banks and credit unions, providing its proprietary AI models and underwriting platform to facilitate consumer credit products. By focusing on non‐traditional data points—such as education, employment history and other real‐time indicators—Upstart seeks to improve approval rates and lower loss rates compared with conventional credit scoring methods.

Upstart’s core offering centers on unsecured personal loans, which borrowers can use for purposes such as debt consolidation, home improvements or major purchases.