D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Free Report) by 281.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 184,116 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 135,795 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Upwork worth $3,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Upwork by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,498,688 shares of the company's stock valued at $253,405,000 after buying an additional 5,289,493 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Upwork by 86.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,303,035 shares of the company's stock worth $54,005,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,078 shares during the period. Dorsey Asset Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 397,997 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Upwork by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,045,115 shares of the company's stock worth $33,438,000 after purchasing an additional 843,115 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Upwork by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,951,630 shares of the company's stock worth $31,911,000 after purchasing an additional 161,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research lowered shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upwork news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 5,411 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total transaction of $70,721.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $125,380.51. This trade represents a 36.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.20, for a total transaction of $852,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,215,083 shares in the company, valued at $17,254,178.60. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 566,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,478,580 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 7.50% of the company's stock.

Upwork Price Performance

NASDAQ:UPWK traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $15.75. 1,395,914 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,262,426. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $14.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.29. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.43 and a 52 week high of $18.14. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Upwork had a net margin of 28.02% and a return on equity of 50.83%. The firm had revenue of $192.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $188.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate 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.