Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.91.

UPWK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Upwork from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Upwork from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Dave Bottoms sold 5,360 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.11, for a total transaction of $91,709.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,974.62. The trade was a 35.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.84, for a total transaction of $336,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,229,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,703,432.80. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,757 shares of company stock valued at $2,265,368 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UPWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,498,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,405,000 after buying an additional 5,289,493 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Upwork by 1,674.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,748,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649,766 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Upwork by 86.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,303,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,005,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,078 shares in the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Upwork in the 4th quarter worth about $24,633,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Upwork in the 4th quarter worth about $18,838,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $17.44 on Thursday. Upwork has a 12 month low of $8.43 and a 12 month high of $18.14. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.59. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40 and a beta of 1.57.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.02% and a return on equity of 50.83%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Upwork will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.