Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) CEO Paul Gu Buys 50,000 Shares

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) CEO Paul Gu bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.50 per share, with a total value of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 70,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,000. This represents a 250.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Upstart Price Performance

NASDAQ:UPST opened at $26.99 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.65 and a 200-day moving average of $37.39. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 71.03, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $23.97 and a one year high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.46). Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The firm had revenue of $308.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upstart announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on UPST shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Upstart from $56.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearstead Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 749.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 132.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc operates a cloud-based lending marketplace that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess borrower creditworthiness. The company partners with banks and credit unions, providing its proprietary AI models and underwriting platform to facilitate consumer credit products. By focusing on non‐traditional data points—such as education, employment history and other real‐time indicators—Upstart seeks to improve approval rates and lower loss rates compared with conventional credit scoring methods.

Upstart’s core offering centers on unsecured personal loans, which borrowers can use for purposes such as debt consolidation, home improvements or major purchases.