Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Stock Price

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $87.00 to $108.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 23.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on UPST. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.83.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of UPST stock traded down $1.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.27. The stock had a trading volume of 11,919,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,759,521. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.30 and a beta of 2.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.62. Upstart has a 12-month low of $20.60 and a 12-month high of $96.43.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 32.57% and a negative net margin of 30.15%. Analysts expect that Upstart will post -2.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.56, for a total transaction of $102,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 329,593 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,896.08. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.60, for a total transaction of $2,608,354.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 57,138 shares in the company, valued at $3,576,838.80. The trade was a 42.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 347,868 shares of company stock worth $24,056,862. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 125.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.