First Pacific Advisors LP Sells 8,900,000 Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

First Pacific Advisors LP decreased its stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 98.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,881 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,900,000 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP owned about 0.08% of Upwork worth $1,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Upwork by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in Upwork by 42.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 6,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851 shares during the last quarter. Nkcfo LLC bought a new position in Upwork in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Upwork in the fourth quarter worth about $84,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Dave Bottoms sold 5,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.11, for a total transaction of $91,709.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,974.62. This represents a 35.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 13,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.15, for a total transaction of $222,304.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 156,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,532,772.20. This trade represents a 8.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 228,187 shares of company stock worth $3,917,213 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $14.17 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.08. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.43 and a 52 week high of $18.14.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.79. Upwork had a return on equity of 50.83% and a net margin of 28.02%. As a group, analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UPWK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Upwork from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Upwork from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.91.

Upwork Profile

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.