Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Sells $617,421.63 in Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CEO Hayden Brown sold 73,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total transaction of $617,421.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 771,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,500,170.68. This represents a 8.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

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

• On Thursday, June 18th, Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of Upwork stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $191,264.20.

Upwork Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of UPWK opened at $8.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.50. Upwork Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.44 and a 12-month high of $22.84.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The business had revenue of $191.66 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Upwork has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPWK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Upwork from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 price target on shares of Upwork in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Upwork from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Upwork presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upwork

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 594.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Upwork by 434.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Upwork by 43.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Upwork during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 19,361.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 3,485 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

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.