Azora Capital LP Acquires Shares of 882,231 Upstart Holdings, Inc. $UPST

Key Points

• Azora Capital LP opened a new position in Upstart Holdings during the fourth quarter, buying 882,231 shares valued at about $38.6 million. The stake represented roughly 0.90% of Upstart and about 2.4% of Azora’s portfolio.
• Institutional interest in Upstart remains high, with hedge funds and other investors owning about 63.01% of the company. Several firms also recently increased or initiated positions in the stock.
• Wall Street is divided on UPST: analysts currently have a Hold consensus with an average price target of $44.73, while recent insider activity included a sale by Sanjay Datta and a large purchase by director Dave Girouard.

Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 882,231 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,580,000. Upstart accounts for approximately 2.4% of Azora Capital LP's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Azora Capital LP owned approximately 0.90% of Upstart at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the third quarter valued at about $4,237,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Upstart by 71.5% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 550,138 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,947,000 after buying an additional 229,315 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Upstart by 31.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 971,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,370,000 after buying an additional 232,595 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Upstart by 1,066.4% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 147,316 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,484,000 after buying an additional 134,686 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the third quarter valued at about $3,218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UPST. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Upstart from $56.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Upstart from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup restated a "market underperform" rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on shares of Upstart from $66.00 to $54.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.73.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In other news, insider Sanjay Datta sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total value of $456,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 313,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,535,237.96. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dave Girouard bought 170,240 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.37 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,948.80. Following the purchase, the director owned 8,512,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $250,025,077.17. This represents a 2.04% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672. 17.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPST opened at $30.46 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $30.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.38. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 80.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.97 and a 52-week high of $87.30.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $308.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upstart declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding UPST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.