Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded to Buy at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $105.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $49.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup raised Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.08.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of UPST stock opened at $88.77 on Wednesday. Upstart has a 52 week low of $20.60 and a 52 week high of $90.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.62.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 30.15% and a negative return on equity of 32.57%. On average, analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.56, for a total transaction of $102,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 329,593 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,896.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 65,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.58, for a total transaction of $4,327,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 878,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,494,857.70. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 347,868 shares of company stock valued at $24,056,862. 18.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 125.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Company Profile

Upstart Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions.