Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on UPWK. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.67.

Upwork Stock Performance

NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $15.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.10 and its 200-day moving average is $15.29. Upwork has a 52-week low of $8.43 and a 52-week high of $18.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 3.39 and a current ratio of 3.39. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 1.52.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $192.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.49 million. Upwork had a net margin of 28.02% and a return on equity of 50.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Upwork will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In related news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.20, for a total value of $852,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,215,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,254,178.60. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 4,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total transaction of $56,410.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 160,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,103,551.15. This trade represents a 2.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 566,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,478,580. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,498,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,405,000 after buying an additional 5,289,493 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 364.5% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,351,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,836,000 after buying an additional 4,199,244 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,660,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,820,000 after buying an additional 1,357,476 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 3,045,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,788,000 after buying an additional 397,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,326,000 after buying an additional 882,059 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.