Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 579,637 Shares of Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Baillie Gifford & Co. lessened its holdings in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,178,263 shares of the company’s stock after selling 579,637 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.89% of Upwork worth $21,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Upwork by 68.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 191,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after buying an additional 78,123 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Upwork by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Upwork by 364.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 789,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,305,000 after acquiring an additional 619,459 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Upwork by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 338,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 31,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in Upwork by 21.0% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 171,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 29,805 shares in the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Upwork from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.91.

Insider Transactions at Upwork

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 23,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.59, for a total transaction of $476,596.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 721,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,848,643.22. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gary Steele sold 12,500 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.51, for a total transaction of $218,875.00. Following the sale, the director owned 85,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,490,608.79. The trade was a 12.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 523,248 shares of company stock worth $10,029,741. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Upwork Price Performance

NASDAQ UPWK opened at $22.11 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.21. Upwork Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.13 and a 1 year high of $22.32. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 1.01.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $201.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.33 million. Upwork had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 31.63%.The business’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Upwork has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.350-1.370 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS. Research analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Upwork Profile

Upwork Inc operates a leading online talent marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals worldwide. Through its digital platform, the company enables clients across industries—including technology, marketing, creative services and customer support—to source, hire and manage freelance talent on demand. Key features of the Upwork platform include streamlined job posting, proposal evaluation, time-tracking tools, invoicing and secure payment processing, all designed to simplify collaboration between clients and remote workers.

The company traces its roots to the merger of two pioneering freelance marketplaces, Elance (founded in 1998) and oDesk (founded in 2003), which combined in 2015 to form a unified entity.