Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $70.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $12.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Upstart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.92.

Upstart Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ UPST opened at $82.42 on Friday. Upstart has a 12-month low of $20.60 and a 12-month high of $96.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.22.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 30.15% and a negative return on equity of 32.57%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Paul Gu sold 4,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $301,425.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 863,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,729,875. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 4,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.79, for a total transaction of $305,261.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,661.02. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 241,201 shares of company stock valued at $17,003,724. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Upstart by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Upstart by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Upstart by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 38,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,386,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Upstart by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Upstart by 5.1% during the third quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 5,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. 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.