Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Price Target Raised to $20.00

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) had its price objective upped by JMP Securities from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Upwork from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank started coverage on Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. BTIG Research lowered Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Upwork from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Upwork currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.67.

Upwork Price Performance

NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $17.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27 and a beta of 1.52. Upwork has a 1 year low of $8.43 and a 1 year high of $18.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 3.39 and a quick ratio of 3.39.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $192.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.49 million. Upwork had a return on equity of 50.83% and a net margin of 28.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Upwork will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 5,411 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total value of $70,721.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,380.51. This trade represents a 36.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 4,316 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total value of $56,410.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 160,945 shares in the company, valued at $2,103,551.15. This represents a 2.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 562,773 shares of company stock worth $9,433,027 in the last ninety days. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UPWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,498,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,405,000 after acquiring an additional 5,289,493 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 364.5% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,351,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,836,000 after acquiring an additional 4,199,244 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Upwork during the 1st quarter worth $22,079,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Upwork by 1,674.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,748,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,585,000 after buying an additional 1,649,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Upwork by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,303,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,005,000 after buying an additional 1,534,078 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.