Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) saw strong trading volume on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $13.50 to $15.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. 10,689,789 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 87% from the previous session’s volume of 5,702,961 shares.The stock last traded at $89.37 and had previously closed at $88.77.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on UPST. B. Riley raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. BTIG Research raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.08.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,576,838.80. This represents a 42.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 87,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.39, for a total value of $6,078,564.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 863,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,888,080.35. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 347,868 shares of company stock worth $24,056,862 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 153.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,246,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,886,000 after purchasing an additional 754,416 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Upstart by 886.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 709,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,695,000 after buying an additional 637,706 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Upstart by 689.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 589,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,566,000 after purchasing an additional 514,400 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,158,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Upstart by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,793,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,843,000 after buying an additional 369,640 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Upstart Stock Up 0.4 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.62. The firm has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.16 and a beta of 2.25.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.18 EPS for the current year.

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.