Arizona State Retirement System Raises Position in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,567 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Upstart were worth $485,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Upstart by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,128,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,698,000 after buying an additional 115,057 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Upstart by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 573,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 17,463 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the fourth quarter worth $19,017,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Upstart by 26.1% during the second quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 290,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,841,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Upstart by 15.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 272,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,427,000 after purchasing an additional 36,206 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Price Performance

Upstart stock opened at $35.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.52. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.84 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.05 and a beta of 2.03.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $127.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.55 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 38.05% and a negative return on equity of 32.01%. The company’s revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on UPST. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $22.50 to $25.50 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Upstart from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Upstart from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Upstart presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Paul Gu sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.86, for a total transaction of $1,838,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 878,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,898,165.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Dave Girouard sold 3,361 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.35, for a total value of $128,894.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,358,985.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.86, for a total transaction of $1,838,700.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 878,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,898,165.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,459 shares of company stock valued at $5,990,694. Company insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Profile

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.