Legal & General Group Plc Has $6.60 Million Holdings in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its Upwork stake by 126.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 332,884 shares valued at about $6.6 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased holdings, and overall institutional ownership stands at 77.71% of Upwork’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment has turned more cautious: multiple firms cut price targets, and the stock now carries a consensus Hold rating with a $15.50 average price target.

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) by 126.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 332,884 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 186,081 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.25% of Upwork worth $6,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 322,455 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,537,275 shares of the company's stock worth $129,569,000 after acquiring an additional 23,900 shares in the last quarter. Ancient Art L.P. boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ancient Art L.P. now owns 4,268,667 shares of the company's stock worth $79,269,000 after acquiring an additional 494,759 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,009,334 shares of the company's stock worth $55,883,000 after acquiring an additional 147,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,828,735 shares of the company's stock worth $52,534,000 after acquiring an additional 71,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $9.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,745 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.31, for a total value of $292,300.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 798,732 shares in the company, valued at $9,832,390.92. This trade represents a 2.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.49, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,678 shares in the company, valued at $30,770.22. This represents a 72.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 53,080 shares of company stock worth $647,675 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $8.76 on Friday. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.44 and a fifty-two week high of $22.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.85.

Upwork declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 18% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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