Erica Gessert Sells 9,169 Shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CFO Erica Gessert sold 9,169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $74,727.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 341,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,784,113.35. This represents a 2.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.21. The company had a trading volume of 3,519,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,893,765. Upwork Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.44 and a 52 week high of $22.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.02.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Upwork in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,782,000. Ancient Art L.P. raised its stake in Upwork by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ancient Art L.P. now owns 4,268,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,269,000 after buying an additional 494,759 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Upwork during the third quarter worth about $1,648,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Upwork by 1,566.8% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 105,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 98,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new position in Upwork in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,342,000. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on UPWK shares. UBS Group cut shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Upwork from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Upwork Company Profile

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.