Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $2.35 Million Investment in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 280,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,349,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 32,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Straightline Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Straightline Group LLC now owns 39,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Upwork by 4.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 24,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Upwork by 11.0% during the first quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Upwork by 594.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Upwork from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upwork presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 73,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total value of $617,421.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 771,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,500,170.68. This represents a 8.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 22,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total value of $192,574.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 364,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,171.27. The trade was a 5.89% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 132,520 shares of company stock valued at $1,108,000. 4.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Upwork Stock Down 4.4%

Shares of UPWK stock opened at $8.79 on Friday. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.44 and a fifty-two week high of $22.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 1.01.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The company had revenue of $191.66 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Upwork’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Upwork has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS.

Upwork 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.