Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Given Buy Rating at BTIG Research

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 37.95% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market underperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, March 27th. Compass Point raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Upstart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $59.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.79.

Upstart Price Performance

UPST opened at $31.17 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart has a one year low of $23.97 and a one year high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.46). Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The firm had revenue of $308.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $301.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Upstart will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 9,481 shares of company stock valued at $282,201 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Upstart by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,011,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,166,000 after purchasing an additional 531,000 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Upstart by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Upstart by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,068,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,469,000 after purchasing an additional 26,734 shares during the last quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Upstart by 253.3% in the first quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter worth $49,915,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Upstart News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 revenue beat and strong year‑over‑year growth: Upstart reported Q1 revenue of $308.21M (above Street estimates) and revenue was up ~44% YoY, demonstrating continued top‑line momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New customer partnership: Upstart expanded distribution by partnering with Justice Federal Credit Union to put its lending platform in front of more members — a business development item that supports future growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management commentary and detail in the Q1 earnings call transcript — useful for judging whether credit performance, model changes or margin levers will improve going forward. Investors will watch back‑book credit trends and guidance language closely. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EPS miss and widened loss: Upstart reported a GAAP EPS loss (−$0.07) versus consensus of $0.39 — a meaningful miss that pressured the stock despite the revenue beat. Headlines emphasize the earnings shortfall and widening loss. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities‑fraud class actions filed and law‑firm solicitations: Several firms (Pomerantz, Rosen, Berger Montague, Bernstein Liebhard, Schall, Gross, etc.) have announced class actions or are soliciting lead plaintiffs for the May–Nov 2025 period; this raises legal risk and potential distraction for management. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and lower price targets: Reports noted Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs trimmed price targets (e.g., MS $70→$45, GS $54→$40) after recent developments, adding downward pressure on sentiment. Read More.

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.