Zacks Research Downgrades Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) to Strong Sell

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on UPST. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Upstart from $80.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Upstart in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Upstart from $81.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.50.

Upstart Stock Performance

Shares of Upstart stock traded down $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,127,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,066,915. Upstart has a one year low of $29.61 and a one year high of $87.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 2.38. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.99.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $288.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other Upstart news, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $75,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,196,700. This trade represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.91, for a total transaction of $29,649.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,398 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,146.18. This represents a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 16.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $752,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Upstart by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 45,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 13,205 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Upstart in the 4th quarter worth $380,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Upstart during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in shares of Upstart by 191.4% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 30,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 20,046 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.