Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sets New 12-Month Low on Insider Selling

Shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $26.80 and last traded at $28.14, with a volume of 4251041 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.26.

Specifically, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 276,688 shares in the company, valued at $8,261,903.68. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UPST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Upstart from $88.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Upstart from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Upstart from $80.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.50.

Upstart Stock Up 3.2%

The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.00, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.55.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.54 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The firm’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Upstart by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,011,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,166,000 after purchasing an additional 531,000 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 154.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Upstart by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,068,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,469,000 after purchasing an additional 26,734 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,915,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Upstart by 31.5% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.