Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded to Buy at BTIG Research

BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $43.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on UPST. Truist Financial reduced 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. Compass Point upgraded Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup cut Upstart from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upstart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.77.

Upstart Stock Up 5.4%

Shares of UPST stock opened at $27.79 on Monday. Upstart has a 12-month low of $25.60 and a 12-month high of $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.77.

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

Upstart declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 276,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,481 shares of company stock worth $282,201. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Upstart by 749.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 132.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 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.