Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $70.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $12.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 16.83% from the company’s previous close.

UPST has been the subject of several other research reports. B. Riley upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upstart currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.92.

Upstart Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of Upstart stock opened at $84.16 on Friday. Upstart has a 52-week low of $20.60 and a 52-week high of $96.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.99 and a 200 day moving average of $54.82. The company has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.61 and a beta of 2.25.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share 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, research analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In related news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 1,411 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.36, for a total transaction of $109,154.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,438,586.56. This represents a 7.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total transaction of $2,608,354.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,576,838.80. This trade represents a 42.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 241,201 shares of company stock worth $17,003,724. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Upstart by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,793,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,843,000 after acquiring an additional 369,640 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Upstart by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,846,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,711,000 after acquiring an additional 29,664 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Upstart by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,379,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,960,000 after acquiring an additional 308,200 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in Upstart by 153.2% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,246,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,886,000 after acquiring an additional 754,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Upstart by 300.2% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,061,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,357,000 after buying an additional 796,252 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.