Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Citigroup currently has $33.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $15.00.

UPST has been the subject of several other research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Upstart from a sell rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the company from $22.50 to $25.50 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Upstart from an underperform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Upstart in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They set a sell rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an underperform rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $24.50.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST traded up $2.04 on Wednesday, reaching $36.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,062,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,434,901. Upstart has a 52-week low of $19.84 and a 52-week high of $49.62. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.60 and a beta of 1.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.06.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. Upstart had a negative net margin of 38.05% and a negative return on equity of 31.57%. The business had revenue of $127.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.55 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.34) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Upstart will post -2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total value of $26,310.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,797,791.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 2,997 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.62, for a total value of $76,783.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,662,046.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total transaction of $26,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 372,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,797,791.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 171,610 shares of company stock valued at $4,725,533. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at $854,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 3,532.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 329,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,473,000 after purchasing an additional 320,663 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 11,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 805.7% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 19,313 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.