Upstart Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 93,583 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 185% compared to the average volume of 32,826 put options.

Upstart Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of UPST traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.46. 2,503,642 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,184,015. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.44. Upstart has a 1 year low of $25.60 and a 1 year high of $87.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.67 and its 200-day moving average is $46.72.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The firm had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Upstart announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on UPST shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Upstart from $59.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market underperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total transaction of $238,342.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,261,903.68. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,481 shares of company stock worth $282,201. Company insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $434,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its position in Upstart by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 11,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Rare Wolf Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $616,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $752,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 45,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 13,205 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Company Profile

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.