Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 93,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,252,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of Upwork as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in Upwork by 415.9% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Upwork by 3,492.8% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in Upwork in the 1st quarter valued at $130,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Upwork by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its position in Upwork by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on UPWK. JMP Securities increased their price target on Upwork from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 28th. UBS Group set a $21.00 target price on Upwork and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.42.

Upwork Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of UPWK opened at $15.63 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.04 and a 200 day moving average of $15.16. Upwork Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.13 and a fifty-two week high of $20.54. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a current ratio of 3.36.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). Upwork had a return on equity of 44.83% and a net margin of 31.75%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Upwork has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.350-1.370 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Upwork announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.76, for a total value of $825,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 10,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $208,729.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,478.44. This represents a 51.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 222,576 shares of company stock worth $3,670,318 in the last quarter. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.