Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $56.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 85.49% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Upstart from $80.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Upstart from $81.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Upstart in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.90.

Upstart Trading Down 8.8%

NASDAQ UPST opened at $30.19 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.60. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.88 and a beta of 2.38. Upstart has a 52 week low of $29.91 and a 52 week high of $96.43.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.54 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 13,624 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 284,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,398,962.40. This represents a 4.57% 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, 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 sale, the director owned 23,934 shares in the company, valued at $1,196,700. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 16,707 shares of company stock worth $633,080 over the last quarter. 16.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. grew its position 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Upstart by 1.3% in the 4th 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,915,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Upstart by 31.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 971,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,370,000 after buying an additional 232,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 79.8% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 970,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,292,000 after buying an additional 430,535 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Upstart News

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.