Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Stock Price

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $105.00 to $69.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 43.96% from the stock’s current price.

UPST has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Upstart from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Upstart from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upstart has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.42.

Upstart Stock Performance

NASDAQ:UPST opened at $47.93 on Wednesday. Upstart has a 52 week low of $20.60 and a 52 week high of $96.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.83 and a beta of 2.39.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.11. Upstart had a negative net margin of 20.20% and a negative return on equity of 25.87%. The business had revenue of $213.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.31) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 67.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Upstart will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 16,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total value of $1,269,851.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 295,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,353,333.74. The trade was a 5.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Paul Gu sold 12,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $948,793.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,006,599 shares in the company, valued at $79,541,452.98. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,395 shares of company stock worth $2,638,828 over the last three months. Company insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,793,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,843,000 after purchasing an additional 369,640 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,922,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,385,000 after acquiring an additional 321,366 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Upstart by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,915,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,914,000 after purchasing an additional 668,282 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Upstart by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,846,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,711,000 after purchasing an additional 29,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Upstart by 190.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,709,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120,300 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Upstart Company 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.