Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Trading 13.3% Higher – Should You Buy?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares shot up 13.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $53.53 and last traded at $53.44. 4,540,672 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 6,731,468 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on UPST shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Upstart from $108.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Upstart from $105.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Upstart from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Upstart from $93.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.42.

Upstart Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of -36.27 and a beta of 2.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.41.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $213.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $201.08 million. Upstart had a negative return on equity of 25.87% and a negative net margin of 20.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 67.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.31) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In related news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 794 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total value of $62,741.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,985 shares in the company, valued at $1,737,254.70. The trade was a 3.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,524 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,157,032.14. The trade was a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,395 shares of company stock valued at $2,638,828 over the last quarter. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Upstart by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at $313,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Upstart by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 1,303 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $271,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.