Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Price Target Raised to $10.00

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) had its target price lifted by UBS Group from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on UPWK. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 price target on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Upwork from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Upwork from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upwork currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.55.

Upwork Stock Performance

UPWK stock opened at $10.32 on Tuesday. Upwork has a one year low of $7.44 and a one year high of $22.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.75 and a 200-day moving average of $10.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.03.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $185.60 million for 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 Upwork stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total transaction of $201,895.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 793,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,705,860.85. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 9,336 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 $78,889.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 373,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,801.70. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold a total of 178,868 shares of company stock worth $1,509,462 in the last quarter. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in Upwork during the second quarter valued at about $23,214,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Upwork by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,715,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,720,000 after purchasing an additional 779,506 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Upwork in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,156,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 716,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Upwork in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,886,000. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.