Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Shares Down 6.2% on Insider Selling

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)’s stock price dropped 6.2% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $25.56 and last traded at $25.91. 2,423,306 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 6,020,748 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.63.

Specifically, CTO Paul Gu sold 10,000 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $300,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 894,629 shares in the company, valued at $26,883,601.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Paul Gu sold 10,000 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $300,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 894,629 shares in the company, valued at $26,883,601.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Girouard sold 2,997 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.62, for a total transaction of $76,783.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 64,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,662,046.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 169,610 shares of company stock worth $4,678,243. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on UPST shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Upstart in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Upstart currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.65.

Upstart Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.67 and its 200-day moving average is $26.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.90 and a beta of 1.97.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.80) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $127.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.82 million. Upstart had a negative net margin of 32.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.89%. As a group, analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Upstart by 80.6% during the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, BOCHK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Upstart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Upstart Company Profile

Upstart Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions.