Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Lifted to “Buy” at BTIG Research

BTIG Research upgraded shares of Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $16.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on UPWK. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Upwork from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Upwork from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $13.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upwork currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $17.30.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UPWK opened at $12.89 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.21. Upwork has a 52-week low of $6.56 and a 52-week high of $16.36. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 3.01, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. Upwork had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 13.96%. The company had revenue of $183.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.43 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Upwork will post 0.42 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,831,978.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 67,531 shares of company stock worth $851,894 over the last three months. 9.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UPWK. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Upwork by 2,216.0% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,893,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,725,442 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Upwork by 239.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,252,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,491,000 after buying an additional 1,589,693 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Upwork in the third quarter worth $16,987,000. Mak Capital One LLC purchased a new position in shares of Upwork in the third quarter worth $15,528,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Upwork during the fourth quarter worth $19,082,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Company Profile

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.