Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 403,790 Shares of Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD has sold 403,790 shares of Upwork Inc., decreasing its holdings by 2.6% to approximately 15 million shares, valued at around $197 million.
• Institutional investors continue to increase their positions in Upwork, with LSV Asset Management boosting its stake by 364.5%, indicating strong interest in the company.
• Upwork's most recent earnings report showed better-than-expected profitability, with earnings per share of $0.35, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.26.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its holdings in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,094,898 shares of the company's stock after selling 403,790 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 11.47% of Upwork worth $196,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Upwork by 364.5% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,351,406 shares of the company's stock worth $69,836,000 after buying an additional 4,199,244 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Upwork by 41.1% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,660,511 shares of the company's stock worth $60,820,000 after buying an additional 1,357,476 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC increased its position in Upwork by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 3,045,142 shares of the company's stock worth $49,788,000 after buying an additional 397,997 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Upwork by 50.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,379 shares of the company's stock worth $34,326,000 after buying an additional 882,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Upwork by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,436,680 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,840,000 after purchasing an additional 803,929 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Upwork news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 19,036 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total transaction of $263,458.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,202 shares in the company, valued at $2,895,355.68. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 25,577 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total value of $353,985.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,118,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,477,147.44. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 169,442 shares of company stock valued at $2,337,303. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on UPWK shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Upwork from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Upwork from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Upwork in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.67.

Upwork Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ UPWK opened at $14.92 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.11. 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 fifty-two week low of $8.90 and a fifty-two week high of $18.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 1.38.

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

About Upwork

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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