Truist Financial Lowers Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Price Target to $49.00

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $59.00 to $49.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 62.31% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Upstart from $88.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Upstart from $80.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Upstart has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.90.

Upstart Stock Down 8.8%

Shares of Upstart stock opened at $30.19 on Wednesday. Upstart has a 52-week low of $29.91 and a 52-week high of $96.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.95 and a 200 day moving average of $52.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.88 and a beta of 2.38.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.54 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.Upstart’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $75,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,196,700. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 13,624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.58, for a total transaction of $498,365.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 284,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,398,962.40. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,707 shares of company stock valued at $633,080. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UPST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter worth $49,915,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Upstart by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,480,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,625,000 after acquiring an additional 826,974 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth about $33,188,000. Mane Global Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Upstart in the second quarter valued at about $43,576,000. Finally, Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Upstart in the third quarter valued at about $29,018,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its “buy” rating and kept a $56 price target, signaling continued analyst conviction in the company’s long‑term story. Needham Reaffirms Buy on UPST
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy options activity with a large block of call purchases (56,434 calls) suggests some traders are speculating on a near‑term bounce or event-driven move. Upstart Target of Unusually High Options Trading
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released the Q4 earnings presentation and related slides — useful for digging into segment metrics, margin walk and funding assumptions but not new guidance by itself. Q4 Results Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are parsing key Q4 metrics vs. estimates (revenue beat but EPS/margins weaker) — informative for modeling but mixed in directional signal. Zacks: Q4 Key Metrics vs Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Upstart reported a small EPS miss (adjusted $0.46 vs. $0.47 est.) and shares gapped lower on the earnings shock and weaker margin signals. Stock Gaps Lower After Earnings Whiff
• Negative Sentiment: CEO discussed Q4 results and said he plans to step down — management transition risks and execution questions amplify near‑term uncertainty. CEO Discusses Q4, Plans to Step Down
• Negative Sentiment: 2026 margin guidance disappointed investors and raised concerns about the company’s ability to execute on funding and cost assumptions, triggering further downside pressure. Margin Guidance Disappoints
• Negative Sentiment: TipRanks flagged rising data‑privacy compliance risks and higher legal/exposure costs under tightening laws — a structural headwind that could pressure margins and increase regulatory oversight. Rising Data Privacy Risks
• Negative Sentiment: Truist cut its price target from $59 to $49 (still a “buy”), signaling lowered expectations on the company’s near‑term performance. Truist Lowers Price Target

About Upstart

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.