Jennison Associates LLC Buys New Position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 50,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Upwork by 1,235.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Upwork during the first quarter worth about $140,000. Alhambra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork during the first quarter worth about $178,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury acquired a new position in Upwork in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $180,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Upwork during the 4th quarter worth approximately $191,000. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 11,562 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.51, for a total value of $156,202.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,345 shares in the company, valued at $126,250.95. The trade was a 55.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Layton sold 250,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.47, for a total transaction of $4,367,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,867,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,629,924.43. This represents a 11.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 545,454 shares of company stock valued at $9,172,963 in the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on UPWK shares. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Friday, May 16th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Upwork from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. BTIG Research cut Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.67.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $13.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a current ratio of 3.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 1.38. Upwork Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.43 and a 1 year high of $18.14.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Upwork had a return on equity of 48.38% and a net margin of 30.46%. The company had revenue of $192.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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