84,198 Shares of Upwork Inc. $UPWK Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 84,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $687,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in Upwork in the second quarter valued at approximately $23,214,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,715,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,720,000 after purchasing an additional 779,506 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,156,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 7,074.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 726,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,966,000 after buying an additional 716,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,886,000. 77.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on UPWK shares. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Upwork in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 target price on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of 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 increased their price target on shares of Upwork from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Upwork from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Upwork presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Anthony Kappus sold 45,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owned 76,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $645,089.90. This represents a 37.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 73,241 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,500,170.68. This trade represents a 8.67% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 178,868 shares of company stock valued at $1,509,462. 4.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $10.02 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.46. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 1.03. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.44 and a twelve month high of $22.84.

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

About Upwork

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.