Baillie Gifford & Co. Makes New $33.19 Million Investment in Upstart Holdings, Inc. $UPST

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. opened a new position in Upstart, acquiring 758,929 shares valued at about $33.19 million, representing roughly 0.78% ownership.
• Upstart beat expectations for the most recent quarter with EPS of $0.17 versus a $0.15 consensus and revenue of $296.09 million, up 35.2% year-over-year.
• The board authorized a $100.00 million share repurchase (up to 3.2% of shares) while CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares; company insiders now own 16.67% of the stock.

Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new position in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 758,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,188,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.78% of Upstart as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 89.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 96,706 shares of the company's stock worth $4,451,000 after buying an additional 45,664 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,628 shares of the company's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Upstart by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Upstart by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 173,017 shares of the company's stock worth $7,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the 1st quarter worth $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Upstart

In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,481 shares of company stock valued at $282,201. Company insiders own 16.67% of the company's stock.

Upstart Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of UPST opened at $28.06 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day moving average is $28.95 and its 200-day moving average is $40.18. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.97 and a 12 month high of $87.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.16.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The business had revenue of $296.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.54 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Upstart's revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upstart declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UPST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Upstart from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $48.00.

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.

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