Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Insider Selling

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $26.80 and last traded at $28.14, with a volume of 4251041 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.26.

Specifically, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,261,903.68. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on UPST shares. Zacks Research lowered Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Four investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.50.

Upstart Trading Up 4.3%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.64, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.38.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (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 company 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 company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Upstart announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 3.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of UPST. Clearstead Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP raised its position in Upstart by 749.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.