Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.1667.

UPST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Monday, December 29th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Upstart from $56.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Upstart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:UPST opened at $27.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.07 and its 200 day moving average is $47.65. Upstart has a fifty-two week low of $25.60 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 66.14, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.44.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly 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. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The company had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.54 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Upstart’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction 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 approximately $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 10,981 shares of company stock worth $357,201 in the last ninety days. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Upstart by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 5,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Upstart by 1.8% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Upstart by 3.0% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. 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.