Teza Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Key Points

• Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Upwork Inc. in the first quarter, purchasing 20,283 shares valued at approximately $265,000.
• Upwork's CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares at an average price of $13.76, resulting in a 5.20% decrease in his ownership of the stock.
• Upwork announced a stock buyback plan to repurchase up to $100 million in outstanding shares, indicating that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of UPWK. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 3,492.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,988 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 1,235.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,767 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork in the first quarter valued at approximately $130,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork in the first quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Finally, Alhambra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork in the first quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other Upwork news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 19,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total transaction of $263,458.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,895,355.68. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 25,577 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total transaction of $353,985.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,118,291 shares in the company, valued at $15,477,147.44. This trade represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,608 shares of company stock valued at $2,187,556. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on UPWK shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.67.

Upwork Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of UPWK stock traded up $0.49 on Friday, hitting $16.86. The stock had a trading volume of 4,510,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,534,750. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.75 and a twelve month high of $18.14. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.10.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $194.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upwork declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.