Insider Selling: Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Director Sells 75,000 Shares of Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Director Elizabeth A. Nelson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.58, for a total transaction of $1,318,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,299 shares in the company, valued at $286,536.42. This represents a 82.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Upwork Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of UPWK traded down $1.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $15.63. 2,612,529 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,699,486. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.64. Upwork Inc. 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.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on UPWK. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Upwork from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Upwork in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.91.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upwork in the fourth quarter worth $1,324,000. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upwork in the fourth quarter worth $345,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Upwork by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,488,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,337,000 after buying an additional 426,100 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Upwork by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,436,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,840,000 after buying an additional 803,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upwork in the fourth quarter worth $669,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

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.