Upstart’s (UPST) Buy Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at BTIG Research in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 price objective on the stock. BTIG Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 41.82% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on UPST. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upstart from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $35.00 price objective on Upstart in a report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Upstart from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $40.00 price target on Upstart in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.27.

Upstart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPST opened at $30.32 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.58. Upstart has a 1 year low of $23.97 and a 1 year high of $85.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 79.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.29.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.03). Upstart had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 4.34%.The business had revenue of $364.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 41.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Upstart will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other news, insider Sanjay Datta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.41, for a total transaction of $456,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 313,556 shares in the company, valued at $9,535,237.96. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 974 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $28,236.26. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 37,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,083,472.26. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 33,346 shares of company stock valued at $991,672 over the last 90 days. 17.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Upstart by 103.5% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 421,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,427,000 after purchasing an additional 214,279 shares in the last quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upstart by 102.2% during the 4th quarter. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. now owns 415,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,162,000 after buying an additional 209,915 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,415,000. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,580,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,188,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Upstart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 revenue and originations exceeded expectations. Upstart generated approximately $365 million in revenue, up about 42% year over year and ahead of Wall Street estimates. Management also reported 50% year-over-year growth in loan originations and an all-time high in contribution profit, supporting the view that platform demand and operating leverage are improving. Upstart Q2 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability was a key positive. Zacks reported adjusted earnings of $0.59 per share, above the $0.58 consensus estimate and well above the $0.36 reported a year earlier. However, other earnings data cited $0.16 per share versus a $0.19 estimate, indicating that the result depends on the accounting measure used. Zacks Upstart Q2 Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: Funding and regulatory developments strengthened the growth outlook. Upstart has secured more than $4 billion in newly committed capital through agreements with investors including Fortress, Centerbridge, and Neuberger. Conditional OCC approval to establish Upstart Bank could also reduce operational and regulatory complexity over time. Upstart Funding Momentum Analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Full-year revenue guidance was maintained near consensus. Upstart projected FY 2026 revenue of approximately $1.4 billion, broadly matching analyst expectations, so the outlook was supportive but did not represent a major forecast upgrade.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and portfolio risks remain. Management is navigating economic headwinds and strategic shifts in its loan portfolio. Investor sentiment is also tempered by mixed institutional activity and substantial insider selling reported over the past six months, despite purchases by CEO Dave Girouard and co-founder Paul Gu.

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.