Short Interest in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) Declines By 12.9%

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,370,000 shares, a decrease of 12.9% from the April 30th total of 23,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 26.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on UPST shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Upstart from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Upstart from $105.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Upstart from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded Upstart from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.81.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other Upstart news, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.19, for a total value of $59,214.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,623 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,090.37. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 13,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.97, for a total value of $634,658.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 311,356 shares in the company, valued at $14,624,391.32. This represents a 4.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,616 shares of company stock valued at $729,751. Insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPST. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Upstart by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 117,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,400,000 after buying an additional 5,160 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Upstart in the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Upstart in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Upstart by 70.8% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 74,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,412,000 after buying an additional 30,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in Upstart by 52.3% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 9,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 3,118 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upstart Price Performance

Upstart stock opened at $50.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.11. Upstart has a one year low of $20.60 and a one year high of $96.43. The firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of -34.92 and a beta of 2.39.

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

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.