Upwork Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 3,265 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 70% compared to the typical volume of 1,915 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on UPWK. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Upwork from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upwork currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Dave Bottoms sold 2,060 shares of the business’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 $28,510.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,164.40. The trade was a 50.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.76, for a total transaction of $825,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,093,485 shares in the company, valued at $15,046,353.60. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,436 shares of company stock worth $1,550,484 over the last three months. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upwork

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 22.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,534,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,169 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 41.1% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,660,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,476 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 8.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,861,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,458,000 after acquiring an additional 231,103 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,436,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,840,000 after acquiring an additional 803,929 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,283,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,328,000 after acquiring an additional 310,678 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Price Performance

Upwork stock opened at $19.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.38 and its 200 day moving average is $14.18. 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 has a 52-week low of $9.93 and a 52-week high of $19.74.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $194.94 million for 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 was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Upwork will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upwork announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.