Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Receives $23.33 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on UPWK. Zacks Research upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Upwork from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, November 19th.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $20.25 on Friday. Upwork has a 1-year low of $11.13 and a 1-year high of $22.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.01.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). Upwork had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 31.63%.The company had revenue of $201.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Upwork’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Upwork has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.350-1.370 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Upwork will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 18,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total transaction of $308,833.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 237,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,968,120.40. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 11,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.59, for a total value of $232,358.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $205,220.53. This represents a 53.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 523,248 shares of company stock worth $10,029,741. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UPWK. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Upwork by 785.7% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,322,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,356 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Upwork during the third quarter valued at about $24,782,000. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 22.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,534,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,169 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Upwork by 93.6% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,862,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,580,000 after buying an additional 900,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Upwork during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,955,000. 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.