Insider Selling: Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) CFO Sells $238,342.52 in Stock

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the business’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 transaction of $238,342.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Upstart Trading Up 4.3%

UPST opened at $29.67 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 70.64, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.38. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.80 and a 1-year high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 5.13%.The firm had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Upstart’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upstart declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 1,116.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 89,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 82,305 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the 2nd quarter worth about $991,000. Tableaux LLC bought a new position in Upstart during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,587,000. Sepio Capital LP raised its position in Upstart by 42.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 256,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,565,000 after purchasing an additional 75,802 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Upstart by 31.0% in the second quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,785,000 after purchasing an additional 21,140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on UPST. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, February 13th. Compass Point raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on Upstart from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.50.

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.