Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $49.70, but opened at $47.89. Upstart shares last traded at $49.16, with a volume of 668,942 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Upstart from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $70.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Upstart from $80.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, B. Riley raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.38.

Upstart Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.54 and a beta of 2.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.51.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 20.20% and a negative return on equity of 25.87%. Analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upstart news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.01, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 16,070 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 transaction of $1,269,851.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 295,537 shares in the company, valued at $23,353,333.74. This trade represents a 5.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,062 shares of company stock valued at $5,247,182 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $654,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 145,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,837,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 1,424.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 63.8% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 725,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,031,000 after acquiring an additional 282,481 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.