B. Riley Upgrades Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) to “Buy”

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) was upgraded by investment analysts at B. Riley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $105.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $49.00. B. Riley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 55.93% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on UPST. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $95.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $87.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.73.

Upstart Stock Performance

NASDAQ UPST opened at $67.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of -34.89 and a beta of 2.25. Upstart has a fifty-two week low of $20.60 and a fifty-two week high of $88.95.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Upstart will post -2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 329,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,596,896.08. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 41,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $2,725,438.47. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,023,499.92. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 347,868 shares of company stock valued at $24,056,862. Corporate insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Upstart by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Upstart in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Upstart by 125.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Upstart

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.