Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $77.08, but opened at $80.21. Upstart shares last traded at $84.55, with a volume of 1,616,423 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UPST. Piper Sandler raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Upstart from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.80.

Upstart Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.54, for a total transaction of $119,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 331,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,335,137.22. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 4,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $301,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 863,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,729,875. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 534,868 shares of company stock worth $32,864,764. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UPST. Anfield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the third quarter valued at $35,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Upstart in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Upstart by 125.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Upstart during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.