Sanjay Datta Sells 7,982 Shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Stock

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Upstart Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:UPST opened at $28.44 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.40. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.80 and a twelve month high of $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 67.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.38.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The firm had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upstart announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UPST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup cut shares of Upstart from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Upstart from $88.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 749.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Upstart by 132.2% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Upstart by 72.1% during the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.