Insider Selling: Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) CFO Sells 22,844 Shares of Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CFO Erica Gessert sold 22,844 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,075,171.27. This trade represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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.

Erica Gessert also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 18th, Erica Gessert sold 9,169 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $74,727.35.

Upwork Trading Down 0.3%

Upwork stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $8.66. 1,798,371 shares of the stock 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 simple moving average of $8.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $191.66 million for the quarter. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price target 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 dropped their price objective on Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 price target on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Upwork currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.05.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Upwork by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,231,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,166,000 after buying an additional 5,893,970 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Upwork by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,989,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,086,000 after buying an additional 322,455 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Upwork by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,537,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,569,000 after acquiring an additional 23,900 shares during the period. Ancient Art L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Ancient Art L.P. now owns 4,640,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,981,000 after purchasing an additional 372,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Upwork by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,715,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,720,000 after acquiring an additional 779,506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.