Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $53.69, but opened at $50.70. Upstart shares last traded at $48.06, with a volume of 1,135,148 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on UPST. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. B. Riley raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $49.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Upstart from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.38.

Upstart Trading Down 8.7 %

The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.56 and a beta of 2.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.36.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 20.20% and a negative return on equity of 25.87%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CTO Paul Gu sold 12,007 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total value of $948,793.14. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,006,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,541,452.98. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,524 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.01, for a total value of $357,441.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,157,032.14. This represents a 7.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,062 shares of company stock valued at $5,247,182. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Upstart in the third quarter worth $35,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart in the third quarter valued at $47,000. 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.