Hayden Brown Sells 15,000 Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 15,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,181,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,080,757. The trade was a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hayden Brown also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 18th, Hayden Brown sold 30,672 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.13, for a total value of $464,067.36.
• On Friday, November 8th, Hayden Brown sold 10,000 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total value of $158,500.00.
• On Wednesday, September 18th, Hayden Brown sold 9,444 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.57, for a total value of $99,823.08.
• On Monday, September 16th, Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total transaction of $200,200.00.

Upwork Stock Performance

Upwork stock opened at $17.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.60 and a beta of 1.58. Upwork Inc. has a one year low of $8.43 and a one year high of $17.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.18.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $193.78 million for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Upwork in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Upwork by 104.2% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Upwork by 45.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Upwork in the second quarter valued at $54,000. 77.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on UPWK. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (up from $13.00) on shares of Upwork in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Upwork from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Upwork from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Upwork from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.73.

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.