Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Sets New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $25.20 and last traded at $25.7590, with a volume of 124847 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research downgraded Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Upstart from $59.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.77.

Upstart Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.86. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 61.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 2.44.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has approved a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often 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 the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,261,903.68. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,481 shares of company stock valued at $282,201. 16.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UPST. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Upstart by 89.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 96,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,451,000 after purchasing an additional 45,664 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Upstart by 18.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 173,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,964,000 after buying an additional 27,287 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Upstart during the first quarter valued at about $208,000. 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.