Traders Purchase Large Volume of Upstart Call Options (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 45,688 call options on the company. This is an increase of 61% compared to the typical daily volume of 28,443 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup cut shares of Upstart from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Compass Point raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upstart

In other news, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,261,903.68. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 9,481 shares of company stock valued at $282,201 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPST. Clearstead Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 749.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Upstart by 132.2% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Upstart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Upstart Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of UPST opened at $33.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.16. Upstart has a 12 month low of $23.97 and a 12 month high of $87.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.89.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.54 million. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Upstart will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Key Headlines Impacting Upstart

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Buyers piled into UPST ahead of Q1 results, driving a ~13–14% rally on strong volume as traders positioned for upside; the move was accompanied by heavy call‑option buying, signaling short‑term bullish bets. Upstart Holdings (UPST) Nears Q1 Earnings, Jumps 13%
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call option volume (about 45,688 calls) indicates elevated bullish positioning by traders ahead of the earnings event. (Options volume data reported April 15.)
• Positive Sentiment: KBRA assigned preliminary ratings to a $320.14M Upstart securitization (UPST 2026-2), reflecting continued access to ABS funding and ongoing loan issuance through Upstart’s platform — a positive for funding and growth capacity. KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Upstart Securitization Trust 2026-2
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks upgraded UPST from “strong sell” to “hold,” a mild positive but not a strong catalyst; their coverage also flagged that recent FFO estimate revisions may limit further upside near term. Zacks Research Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have filed or announced class actions alleging misstatements tied to Upstart’s AI projections and model calibration during the period May 14, 2025–Nov 4, 2025; one suit is docketed in SDNY (26‑cv‑02974). Legal exposure, potential discovery and damages are clear downside risks for the stock. Pomerantz Class Action Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Numerous investor‑alert notices from firms (Rosen, Bernstein Liebhard, Portnoy, Faruqi & Faruqi, Berger Montague, Levi & Korsinsky, SueWallSt) are soliciting lead‑plaintiff candidates and highlighting alleged inflation of AI projections and calibration failures; lead plaintiff motions are due June 8, 2026 — increased legal publicity can pressure shares and elevate litigation costs. Rosen Law Firm Notice SueWallSt Investor Alert

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.