Insider Selling: Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) COO Sells 1,964 Shares of Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) COO Anthony Ray Kappus sold 1,964 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total transaction of $16,556.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,814.02. This trade represents a 21.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Anthony Ray Kappus also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Saturday, July 18th, Anthony Ray Kappus sold 558 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.06, for a total value of $5,055.48.

Upwork Stock Down 0.3%

UPWK traded down $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $8.66. 1,798,371 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,843,327. Upwork Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.44 and a 12-month high of $22.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.83 and a 200-day moving average of $10.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on UPWK shares. Citizens Jmp cut Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Capital cut Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 target price on shares of Upwork in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Upwork presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.05.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UPWK. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Upwork during the second quarter worth approximately $1,965,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Upwork by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,989,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,086,000 after purchasing an additional 322,455 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Upwork by 547.9% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 73,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 61,976 shares during the period. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Upwork during the fourth quarter worth about $40,136,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 332,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,598,000 after purchasing an additional 186,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

About Upwork

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.