Brokerages Set Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Price Target at $15.50

Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Upwork from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Upwork Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $9.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.99. Upwork has a 52 week low of $7.44 and a 52 week high of $22.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 9,169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total value of $74,727.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 341,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,784,113.35. This trade represents a 2.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total value of $191,264.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 797,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,499,584.25. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 34,471 shares of company stock worth $281,446 in the last quarter. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of UPWK. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Upwork by 68.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 191,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 78,123 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 364.0% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 789,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,305,000 after purchasing an additional 619,459 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 31,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in Upwork by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 4,230 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

About Upwork

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.