Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown Sells 31,506 Shares

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 31,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.65, for a total transaction of $304,032.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,190,561 shares in the company, valued at $11,488,913.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Upwork Stock Performance

NASDAQ UPWK traded down $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,960,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,149,771. Upwork Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.43 and a 12 month high of $16.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $193.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. Upwork had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 20.75%. Upwork’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UPWK. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Upwork from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Upwork from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm cut their price target on Upwork from $19.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Upwork from $19.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Upwork by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Upwork by 56.2% in the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Upwork by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Upwork by 0.6% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 318,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,426,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Upwork by 3.2% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 66,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 2,063 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company’s work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development.