Inspire Investing LLC Has $847,000 Stock Position in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,048 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,592 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Upwork were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in UPWK. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Upwork by 1,235.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 3,767 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Upwork by 2.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 182,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 4,458 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings 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. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Upwork in the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in Upwork in the first quarter worth approximately $1,854,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UPWK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Upwork from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Upwork from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Upwork presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upwork news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 10,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.96, for a total value of $199,879.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,886.20. This trade represents a 96.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Erica Gessert sold 8,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $167,266.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 218,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,188,471.80. This represents a 3.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 222,576 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,318 over the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $16.80 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.54. Upwork Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.93 and a 12 month high of $20.54. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Upwork had a return on equity of 44.83% and a net margin of 31.75%.The business had revenue of $194.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Upwork declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically 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.