Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Price Target Raised to $19.00 at UBS Group

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $18.00 to $19.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

UPWK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Upwork from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.91.

Upwork Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $16.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.38 and a 200-day moving average of $13.43. Upwork has a 52-week low of $8.43 and a 52-week high of $18.14.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.79. Upwork had a return on equity of 22.84% and a net margin of 11.26%. On average, analysts anticipate that Upwork will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 30,672 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.13, for a total transaction of $464,067.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,196,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,098,823.73. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Elizabeth A. Nelson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.37, for a total value of $1,302,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 48,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $849,653.55. This represents a 60.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 183,203 shares of company stock worth $3,042,191 in the last quarter. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UPWK. Invenomic Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Upwork by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 2,334,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,397,000 after acquiring an additional 260,274 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 70.1% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,045,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,438,000 after purchasing an additional 843,115 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Upwork by 1,674.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,748,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649,766 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Upwork in the fourth quarter worth about $18,838,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Upwork by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,075,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,592,000 after buying an additional 64,438 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Company Profile

Upwork Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company’s work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development.