Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 12,726 Shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 285,751 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,726 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.21% of Upwork worth $4,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Upwork by 575.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Upwork by 92.5% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Upwork by 107.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Upwork by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Upwork during the 1st quarter valued at $120,000. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on UPWK. TheStreet upgraded Upwork from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Upwork from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.55.

Upwork Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of UPWK opened at $11.25 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.15. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.56 and a twelve month high of $16.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 160.74 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 3.01, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Upwork had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 6.80%. The firm had revenue of $183.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.43 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.07, for a total value of $241,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,980 shares in the company, valued at $13,831,978.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,567 shares of company stock worth $853,087. Insiders own 9.00% of the company’s stock.

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.