Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $37.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.31% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $35.00 price objective on Upstart in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Upstart from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.73.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of UPST opened at $30.50 on Monday. Upstart has a fifty-two week low of $23.97 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 80.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.26.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $308.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.30 million. Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Upstart will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Upstart declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 974 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $28,236.26. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,374 shares in the company, valued at $1,083,472.26. This trade represents a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sanjay Datta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $456,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 313,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,535,237.96. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672 over the last three months. Company insiders own 17.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upstart

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Upstart by 749.2% in 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. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.