Hayden Brown Sells 23,468 Shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $191,264.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 797,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,499,584.25. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Upwork Trading Up 4.7%

NASDAQ:UPWK traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,519,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,893,765. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.44 and a fifty-two week high of $22.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.35 and a 200-day moving average of $14.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on UPWK. Citizens Jmp lowered Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm lowered Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Upwork from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $20.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Upwork has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upwork

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UPWK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Upwork by 68.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 191,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 78,123 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Upwork by 5.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 364.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 789,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,305,000 after buying an additional 619,459 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 338,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,420,000 after buying an additional 31,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in Upwork by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 4,230 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc operates a leading online talent marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals worldwide. Through its digital platform, the company enables clients across industries—including technology, marketing, creative services and customer support—to source, hire and manage freelance talent on demand. Key features of the Upwork platform include streamlined job posting, proposal evaluation, time-tracking tools, invoicing and secure payment processing, all designed to simplify collaboration between clients and remote workers.

The company traces its roots to the merger of two pioneering freelance marketplaces, Elance (founded in 1998) and oDesk (founded in 2003), which combined in 2015 to form a unified entity.