Bank of Nova Scotia Decreases Position in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia has reduced its stake in Upstart Holdings, Inc. by 10.7%, now holding 110,031 shares valued at approximately $5.07 million.
• Insider selling was notable, with CFO Sanjay Datta and CEO Dave Girouard selling significant shares, resulting in decreases of 4.16% and 44.19% in their respective positions.
• Upstart recently reported a 101.6% year-over-year increase in revenue, with earnings of $0.36 per share, exceeding analyst expectations.

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,031 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,160 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.12% of Upstart worth $5,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Upstart by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 385.1% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,950 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 1,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 71.2% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,010 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UPST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Upstart from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Upstart from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Upstart from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Upstart to a "sell" rating and set a $71.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 13,512 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.97, for a total value of $634,658.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 311,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,624,391.32. This trade represents a 4.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 6,533 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total value of $457,701.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 24,623 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,725,087.38. The trade was a 20.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 151,650 shares of company stock valued at $9,665,841 in the last three months. 16.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Upstart Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of UPST traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.76. The company had a trading volume of 5,515,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,664,257. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.20. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of -859.50 and a beta of 2.39. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.40 and a 1-year high of $96.43.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.09. Upstart had a negative net margin of 0.75% and a negative return on equity of 5.95%. The firm had revenue of $257.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) EPS. Upstart's revenue was up 101.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.