First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Upstart Holdings, Inc. $UPST

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,455 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 54,908 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Upstart were worth $9,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Upstart by 154.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554,591 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth about $49,915,000. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Upstart by 253.3% in the first quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,039 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,580,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new stake in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on UPST. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Upstart from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $40.00 target price on Upstart in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.93.

Upstart Stock Performance

NASDAQ UPST opened at $27.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.21, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.26. Upstart Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $23.97 and a one year high of $87.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.91.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $308.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $301.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. Upstart’s quarterly revenue was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In related news, CEO Paul Gu acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.50 per share, with a total value of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 70,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,000. This trade represents a 250.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrea Blankmeyer sold 7,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total value of $208,713.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 162,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,811,408.29. This represents a 4.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,346 shares of company stock worth $991,672. Corporate insiders own 17.29% 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.