Inspire Investing LLC Has $847,000 Stock Holdings in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,048 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,592 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Upwork were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 111 Capital bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter valued at $215,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Upwork by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 171,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after acquiring an additional 29,805 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Upwork by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Upwork by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 509,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after acquiring an additional 75,760 shares during the period. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter valued at $203,000. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 8,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $167,266.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 218,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,188,471.80. This represents a 3.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 10,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.96, for a total value of $199,879.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,886.20. The trade was a 96.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 222,576 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,318. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on UPWK. Wall Street Zen upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 28th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Upwork from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Upwork from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.42.

Upwork Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of UPWK stock opened at $16.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.13 and a 200-day moving average of $14.72. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Upwork Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.93 and a 1-year high of $20.54.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $194.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $187.56 million. Upwork had a return on equity of 44.83% and a net margin of 31.75%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Upwork announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, September 3rd that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Upwork

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.