Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown Sells 73,241 Shares

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 73,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total transaction of $617,421.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 771,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,500,170.68. This represents a 8.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Hayden Brown also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 18th, Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total value of $191,264.20.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $8.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.83 and its 200-day moving average is $10.51. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.44 and a 52 week high of $22.84.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $191.66 million for the quarter. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Upwork has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Upwork by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,231,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,166,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,970 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Upwork during the second quarter valued at $23,214,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 785.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,322,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,356 shares in the last quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Upwork in the 4th quarter worth about $40,136,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Upwork by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,288,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,185,000 after purchasing an additional 900,318 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on UPWK shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Upwork from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Upwork presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.05.

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.