Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Hits New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade
by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets DailyUpstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST – Get Free Report)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $51.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Upstart traded as low as $24.60 and last traded at $24.67, with a volume of 236340 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.33.
Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on UPST. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research downgraded Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note 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 note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Six 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Upstart
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 9,481 shares of company stock worth $282,201 over the last three months. 16.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Upstart by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,011,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,166,000 after buying an additional 531,000 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,068,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,469,000 after purchasing an additional 26,734 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter worth about $49,915,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Upstart by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 971,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,370,000 after purchasing an additional 232,595 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Upstart Trading Down 1.8%
The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 59.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.44.
Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The company had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Upstart’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Upstart announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership 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.