Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Stock Price

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $56.00 to $40.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 39.81% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Upstart from $81.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Upstart from $59.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Upstart from $88.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.17.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of Upstart stock opened at $28.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 68.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.44. Upstart has a 52 week low of $25.60 and a 52 week high of $87.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.01.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other news, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 23,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,196,700. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total transaction of $238,342.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares in the company, valued at $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,981 shares of company stock worth $357,201. Corporate insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Upstart during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 749.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Upstart by 132.2% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 771 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other 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.