Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $70.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $12.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $57.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Upstart from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.92.

Upstart Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:UPST opened at $82.42 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.61. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.70 and a beta of 2.25. Upstart has a 52 week low of $20.60 and a 52 week high of $96.43.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 30.15% and a negative return on equity of 32.57%. On average, analysts expect that Upstart will post -2.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 18,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.82, for a total transaction of $1,299,978.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 310,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,712,204.68. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.59, for a total transaction of $37,295.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,339,710.99. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 239,701 shares of company stock worth $16,900,884. Company insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Upstart by 885.9% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 21,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 19,046 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,460,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 273.0% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 45,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,815,000 after purchasing an additional 33,465 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Upstart by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 782,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,182,000 after purchasing an additional 109,164 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at about $518,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions.