Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $635,000 in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 57,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Upwork in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,782,000. Ancient Art L.P. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 494,759 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,342,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 1,566.8% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 105,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after buying an additional 98,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 547.9% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 73,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after buying an additional 61,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on UPWK shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Upwork from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group cut shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $20.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Upwork from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Upwork presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Upwork Trading Up 0.1%

UPWK stock opened at $8.87 on Wednesday. Upwork Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.44 and a 1-year high of $22.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.99.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In related news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 9,169 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $74,727.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 341,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,784,113.35. The trade was a 2.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,468 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total transaction of $191,264.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 797,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,499,584.25. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,913 shares of company stock worth $276,391. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Upwork 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.