Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $25.60 and last traded at $28.28, with a volume of 6470729 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UPST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research cut Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup cut shares of Upstart from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Upstart from $88.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Compass Point upgraded shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.50.

Upstart Stock Up 3.9%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.54.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $288.54 million. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. Upstart’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Upstart announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 19th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares in the company, valued at $8,261,903.68. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $75,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,934 shares in the company, valued at $1,196,700. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,981 shares of company stock worth $357,201. 16.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upstart

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in Upstart by 1,116.8% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 89,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 82,305 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Upstart during the second quarter worth $991,000. Tableaux LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upstart in the second quarter worth $2,587,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Upstart in the third quarter worth $4,237,000. Finally, Sepio Capital LP increased its holdings in Upstart by 42.0% in the second quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 256,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,565,000 after purchasing an additional 75,802 shares during the period. 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.