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

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $65.14, but opened at $67.74. Upstart shares last traded at $71.27, with a volume of 2,212,636 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic raised 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 report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.80.

Upstart Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.25 and a beta of 2.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.73 and its 200 day moving average is $53.10.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $162.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.94 million. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.57% and a negative net margin of 30.15%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.48) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.54, for a total value of $119,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 331,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,335,137.22. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total value of $2,608,354.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,576,838.80. This trade represents a 42.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 349,368 shares of company stock worth $24,176,172. 18.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter worth $924,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter worth about $1,000,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,986,000. 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.