Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown Sells 23,468 Shares

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $191,264.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 797,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,499,584.25. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $8.21 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.94. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.44 and a fifty-two week high of $22.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPWK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Upwork from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Upwork from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Upwork by 7,074.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 726,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,966,000 after purchasing an additional 716,650 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 52,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 13,688 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Upwork by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 67,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 17,734 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Upwork by 31.1% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 156,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,712,000 after buying an additional 37,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Upwork by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 192,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 20,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Company 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.