Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,719 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Upwork were worth $143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP increased its stake in Upwork by 32.9% in the second quarter. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP now owns 3,320,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,700,000 after acquiring an additional 822,518 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Upwork by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,996,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,115,000 after buying an additional 770,088 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Upwork by 71.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,635,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,572,000 after buying an additional 679,028 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP lifted its position in Upwork by 132.5% in the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 964,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,826,000 after buying an additional 549,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Upwork by 27.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,806,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,424,000 after buying an additional 389,006 shares in the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UPWK shares. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Upwork from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Upwork from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Upwork from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Upwork has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of UPWK stock opened at $16.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.18. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.43 and a fifty-two week high of $17.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.22.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. Upwork had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 22.84%. The business had revenue of $193.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 30,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.13, for a total transaction of $464,067.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,098,823.73. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 19,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.13, for a total transaction of $299,816.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 128,939 shares in the company, valued at $1,950,847.07. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 205,626 shares of company stock valued at $2,558,237 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Company Profile

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.