UiPath (NYSE:PATH) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

UiPath, Inc. (NYSE:PATH) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $15.96, but opened at $16.98. UiPath shares last traded at $17.0610, with a volume of 9,731,490 shares traded.

UiPath News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting UiPath this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Index inclusion: UiPath will join the S&P MidCap 400 prior to trading on Jan. 2, replacing Synovus Financial — a move that typically forces purchases by index funds and ETFs and supports near‑term demand/liquidity. UiPath to be added to S&P MidCap 400, shares jump
• Positive Sentiment: AI narrative and analyst attention: Coverage (e.g., Barron’s) highlights UiPath as a potential AI winner, reinforcing a growth story that has driven strong YTD gains and may attract growth/AI‑themed flows. UiPath Stock Is Surging. Why the AI Winner Is Getting a Big Boost.
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish options/flow ahead of the index move: Reports flagged bullish flow and an uptick on Dec. 22, indicating some investor positioning ahead of the reconstitution. Bullish flow in UiPath with shares up 3.88%
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor reaction and market coverage: Multiple outlets are summarizing price action and investor commentary (useful context on volume and momentum but not new company fundamentals). How Investors Are Reacting To UiPath (PATH) Joining The S&P MidCap 400 Index
• Neutral Sentiment: Market data snapshots: Brief price and metric rundowns have circulated (price‑action summaries that help traders but don’t change fundamentals). UiPath (PATH) share price
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Daniel Dines sold 45,000 shares (~$742k at ~ $16.49), a small fraction (~0.16%) of his stake but part of a pattern of periodic sales — a visible signal that can prompt short‑term caution among some investors. SEC filing: SEC filing for insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed options/volatility: Coverage notes mixed options sentiment and sessions with ~5% intraday moves, signalling elevated short‑term volatility that could offset index‑related buying. Mixed options sentiment in UiPath with shares down 4.94%

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of UiPath from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of UiPath from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on UiPath from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on UiPath from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on UiPath from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UiPath currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.00.

UiPath Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.46 and its 200 day moving average is $13.44.

UiPath (NYSE:PATH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. UiPath had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $411.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $392.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that UiPath, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at UiPath

In other news, CFO Ashim Gupta sold 240,874 shares of UiPath stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.28, for a total transaction of $4,162,302.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 696,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,028,901.76. This trade represents a 25.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brad Brubaker sold 66,665 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $999,975.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 690,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,357,785. This represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,125,650 shares of company stock worth $33,618,212 in the last quarter. 23.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PATH. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of UiPath during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in UiPath by 320.4% in the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,887 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in UiPath by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in UiPath by 508.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in UiPath by 852.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 4,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

About UiPath

UiPath Inc provides an end-to-end automation platform that offers a range of robotic process automation (RPA) solutions primarily in the United States, Romania, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company offers a suite of interrelated software to build, manage, run, engage, measure, and govern automation within the organization. Its platform's embedded AI, ML, and NLP capabilities improve decisioning and information processing; emulate human behavior allows organizations to address a myriad of use cases; emulate human behavior allows organizations to address a myriad of use cases; multi-tenant platform enterprise deployment with security and governance and Automation Cloud, which enables customers to begin automating without the need to provision infrastructure, install applications, or perform additional configurations; intuitive interface and low-code, drag-and-drop functionality; signed to enable people and automations to work together; and tracks, measures, and forecasts the performance of automations, enables customers to gain powerful insights and generate key performance indicators with actionable metric.