Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.9167.

UPWK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Upwork from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Upwork from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Upwork from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th.

Insider Activity at Upwork

In related news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 11,285 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.59, for a total value of $232,358.15. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $205,220.53. This represents a 53.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 275,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.43, for a total value of $5,343,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 697,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,560,080.42. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 523,248 shares of company stock valued at $10,029,741 over the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upwork

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 50.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,326,000 after acquiring an additional 882,059 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Upwork during the 1st quarter valued at $22,079,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Upwork in the 1st quarter worth $405,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Upwork by 108.7% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 121,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 63,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Upwork by 41.1% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,660,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,820,000 after buying an additional 1,357,476 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Upwork stock traded up $0.29 on Wednesday, reaching $21.11. The stock had a trading volume of 111,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,100. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.16. Upwork has a 1 year low of $11.13 and a 1 year high of $22.32. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.02.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). Upwork had a net margin of 31.63% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm had revenue of $201.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.33 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Upwork has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.350-1.370 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Upwork will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upwork announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc operates a leading online talent marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals worldwide. Through its digital platform, the company enables clients across industries—including technology, marketing, creative services and customer support—to source, hire and manage freelance talent on demand. Key features of the Upwork platform include streamlined job posting, proposal evaluation, time-tracking tools, invoicing and secure payment processing, all designed to simplify collaboration between clients and remote workers.

The company traces its roots to the merger of two pioneering freelance marketplaces, Elance (founded in 1998) and oDesk (founded in 2003), which combined in 2015 to form a unified entity.