Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Upstart from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.50.

Upstart Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of UPST opened at $30.65 on Tuesday. Upstart has a twelve month low of $29.60 and a twelve month high of $87.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.98, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.85.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The business had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.91, for a total value of $29,649.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,146.18. This represents a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $75,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,196,700. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 16.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554,591 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,915,000. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,580,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Upstart by 22.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,188,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.