Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) CEO Paul Gu Acquires 50,000 Shares of Stock

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) CEO Paul Gu acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.55 per share, for a total transaction of $1,277,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 130,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,500. This trade represents a 62.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Upstart Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ UPST opened at $25.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.68. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.97 and a 52-week high of $71.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 2.16.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $364.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $354.74 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 7.13% and a net margin of 4.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on UPST. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Upstart from $80.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Upstart from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Upstart from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Upstart by 3,247.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,370,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,425,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270,046 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Upstart by 154.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554,591 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,915,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 253.3% during the 1st quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,580,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.