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

Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.36.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on UPWK shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Upwork from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Upwork from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Upwork from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Upwork from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Upwork Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of UPWK opened at $16.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.31. Upwork has a 12-month low of $8.43 and a 12-month high of $18.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 1.58.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $193.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $185.55 million. Upwork had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 22.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Upwork will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Upwork news, Director Elizabeth A. Nelson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.37, for a total transaction of $1,302,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 48,915 shares in the company, valued at $849,653.55. The trade was a 60.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Olivier Marie sold 9,153 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.92, for a total value of $145,715.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,600.48. This represents a 87.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 213,813 shares of company stock worth $3,525,935. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPWK. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Upwork by 32.9% in the second quarter. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP now owns 3,320,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,700,000 after buying an additional 822,518 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 2,334,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,397,000 after acquiring an additional 260,274 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,806,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,424,000 after acquiring an additional 389,006 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Upwork by 71.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,635,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,572,000 after acquiring an additional 679,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Upwork by 1.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,011,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,570,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Upwork Company 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.