Upstart's (UPST) "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed its Buy rating on Upstart and kept a $37 price target, implying about 21% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed overall, with Upstart carrying an average Hold rating and a consensus price target of $44.73 across covering analysts.
• Upstart recently reported EPS of -$0.07, missing expectations, while revenue came in at $308.21 million and rose 44.3% year over year.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target indicates a potential upside of 21.31% from the company's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Upstart from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup restated a "market underperform" rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Upstart from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Mizuho set a $45.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, May 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.73.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of Upstart stock opened at $30.50 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.60. Upstart has a 12-month low of $23.97 and a 12-month high of $87.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 80.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.26.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.46). Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The firm had revenue of $308.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $301.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. Upstart's revenue was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Upstart will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other news, CEO Paul Gu purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $27.50 per share, for a total transaction of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 70,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,000. This represents a 250.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $456,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 313,556 shares in the company, valued at $9,535,237.96. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672. Corporate insiders own 17.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Upstart by 89.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 96,706 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,451,000 after purchasing an additional 45,664 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Upstart by 13.8% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,628 shares of the company's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Upstart by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Upstart by 18.7% in 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 valued at $7,964,000 after buying an additional 27,287 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Upstart in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

About Upstart

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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