Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 2,763,253 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the previous session’s volume of 6,497,028 shares.The stock last traded at $34.96 and had previously closed at $35.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UPST has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on Upstart from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho raised 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $15.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Upstart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.75.

Upstart Stock Up 5.3 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.52. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.02 and a beta of 2.03.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Paul Gu sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.52, for a total transaction of $117,600.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 894,629 shares in the company, valued at $21,041,674.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Upstart news, CTO Paul Gu sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.52, for a total value of $117,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 894,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,041,674.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total transaction of $26,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 372,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,797,791.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 159,459 shares of company stock worth $5,990,694 in the last quarter. 18.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Upstart by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 573,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 17,463 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at $19,017,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.