Upstart Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 86,466 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the typical volume of 60,274 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 2,156 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.27, for a total transaction of $52,326.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,675.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Upstart news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 2,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.27, for a total transaction of $52,326.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $626,675.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Scott Darling sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.44, for a total value of $76,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 196,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,011,501.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,156 shares of company stock valued at $1,404,706. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 1,106.7% in the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 97,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 89,219 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,017,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,013,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,589,000 after acquiring an additional 157,719 shares during the period. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its position in Upstart by 273.8% in the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 41,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 30,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Upstart by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,938 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of UPST stock traded up $3.66 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.47. 9,088,987 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,500,079. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.06 and a beta of 1.97. Upstart has a 12-month low of $19.84 and a 12-month high of $49.62.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. The company had revenue of $127.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.55 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 38.05% and a negative return on equity of 32.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.34) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UPST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on Upstart from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “sell” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Upstart from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Upstart from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.86.

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.