Man Group plc Acquires New Position in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 629,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,260,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In related news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,500,170.68. This represents a 8.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 22,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total value of $192,574.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 364,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,075,171.27. This trade represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 132,520 shares of company stock worth $1,108,000 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Citizens Jmp cut Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 price objective on Upwork in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.05.

Upwork Price Performance

UPWK opened at $9.02 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.10. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.44 and a twelve month high of $22.84.

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

Upwork Profile

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.