Hayden Brown Sells 20,000 Shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock

Key Points

• Hayden Brown, the CEO of Upwork, sold a total of 20,000 shares for $400,000 on September 19th, which decreased his ownership in the company by 1.81% to 1,082,358 shares.
• Upwork has announced a $100 million stock buyback plan, indicating leadership believes the stock is undervalued.
• Upwork's recent earnings report showed a EPS of $0.35, beating estimates and reflecting year-over-year revenue growth of 0.9%.

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK - Get Free Report) CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,082,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,160. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Hayden Brown also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 18th, Hayden Brown sold 42,344 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.09, for a total value of $808,346.96.
• On Wednesday, September 17th, Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $360,000.00.
• On Monday, August 18th, Hayden Brown sold 25,577 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total value of $353,985.68.
• On Friday, August 15th, Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.76, for a total transaction of $825,600.00.

Upwork Stock Up 2.4%

NASDAQ UPWK traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,877,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,981,318. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.93 and a 52 week high of $20.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 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's 50-day simple moving average is $14.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.21.

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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Upwork by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 115,205 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,503,000 after purchasing an additional 13,044 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in Upwork in the first quarter worth $750,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Upwork by 385.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 232,128 shares of the company's stock worth $3,795,000 after acquiring an additional 184,289 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Upwork by 24.3% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 843,330 shares of the company's stock worth $10,996,000 after acquiring an additional 164,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Upwork by 174.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 54,365 shares of the company's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 34,534 shares in the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UPWK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Upwork from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.67.

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.