Azora Capital LP Acquires New Holdings in Upstart Holdings, Inc. $UPST

Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 882,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,580,000. Upstart accounts for about 2.4% of Azora Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 3.3% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 5,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Upstart by 29.1% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 5.3% during the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 5,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Upstart by 0.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 76,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,939,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 20.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on UPST. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Monday. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Upstart from $56.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market underperform” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.73.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In related news, CEO Paul Gu bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.50 per share, with a total value of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 70,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,000. The trade was a 250.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrea Blankmeyer sold 7,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $208,713.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 162,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,811,408.29. The trade was a 4.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672. Company insiders own 17.29% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPST opened at $30.46 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 80.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.97 and a 1 year high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $308.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $301.30 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post 0.92 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 purchase up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Upstart Company Profile

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.