Upwork’s (UPWK) Sector Perform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $8.00 price target on the stock.

UPWK has been the topic of several other reports. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Upwork from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upwork currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.55.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of UPWK stock opened at $10.32 on Tuesday. Upwork has a 52-week low of $7.44 and a 52-week high of $22.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.51.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $185.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.22 million. Upwork had a net margin of 13.53% and a return on equity of 16.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total value of $201,895.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 793,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,705,860.85. This represents a 2.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Anthony Kappus sold 45,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total value of $386,435.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 76,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $645,089.90. This represents a 37.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 178,868 shares of company stock worth $1,509,462 over the last ninety days. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in Upwork by 52.6% during the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 27,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 9,486 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Upwork in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,717,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its position in shares of Upwork by 6,979.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 36,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 35,593 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Upwork by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 44,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 16,324 shares in the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Upwork Company Profile

Upwork Inc operates a global work marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals and agencies. Clients use the platform to find, evaluate, hire and manage talent for projects across areas such as software development, design, marketing, writing, consulting, customer support and administrative services.

The company provides tools for talent discovery, project collaboration, communications, time tracking, contract management and payments. Its offerings serve both individual clients and larger organizations, with features designed to support recurring engagements, contingent-work programs and enterprise talent management.

Upwork was formed in 2015 through the merger of Elance and oDesk, two online freelance-work platforms, and began trading publicly on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2018.