Upwork Inc. $UPWK Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 108.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,270 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,167 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.09% of Upwork worth $1,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Upwork by 5.7% during the first quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Upwork by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 67,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after buying an additional 2,148 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Upwork by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 70,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Upwork by 1,235.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Upwork by 3,492.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 3,877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upwork has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.67.

Upwork Price Performance

UPWK opened at $15.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Upwork Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.90 and a 52-week high of $18.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.09. The company has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 1.43.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $194.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.56 million. Upwork had a net margin of 31.75% and a return on equity of 44.83%. Upwork’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Erica Gessert sold 19,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.84, for a total value of $263,458.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 209,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,895,355.68. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 11,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.51, for a total transaction of $156,202.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,250.95. This trade represents a 55.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 169,442 shares of company stock valued at $2,337,303. Corporate insiders own 7.60% 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.