Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 15,102 Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Key Points

• Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired 15,102 shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) valued at approximately $203,000 during the second quarter.
• Upwork's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.35, surpassing expectations and contributing to a strong stock performance, with a new stock buyback program announced amounting to $100 million.
• Analyst ratings for Upwork remain mostly positive, with eight analysts rating it as a Buy and four as Hold, leading to a consensus target price of $18.67.

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Upwork by 364.5% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,351,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,836,000 after buying an additional 4,199,244 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Upwork by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,660,511 shares of the company's stock worth $60,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,476 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Upwork by 50.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,379 shares of the company's stock worth $34,326,000 after purchasing an additional 882,059 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Upwork by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,237,616 shares of the company's stock worth $29,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,701 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Upwork in the 1st quarter worth $22,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Upwork

In related news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 8,730 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $167,266.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 218,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,188,471.80. This trade represents a 3.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,082,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,160. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 222,576 shares of company stock worth $3,670,318. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UPWK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.67.

Upwork Stock Down 3.7%

NASDAQ:UPWK traded down $0.74 on Monday, hitting $19.33. 4,707,781 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,354,424. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 3.36. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.93 and a 52 week high of $20.41. The company has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.43.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Upwork had a net margin of 31.75% and a return on equity of 44.83%. The firm had revenue of $194.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $187.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upwork announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Upwork 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.