Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Price Target Cut to $15.00

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.37% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on UPWK. UBS Group boosted their price target on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BTIG Research upgraded Upwork from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities lifted 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Upwork from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.55.

Upwork Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Upwork stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Thursday, hitting $12.89. The stock had a trading volume of 2,468,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,033,711. The company has a quick ratio of 3.01, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83 and a beta of 1.66. Upwork has a 1 year low of $6.56 and a 1 year high of $16.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.18.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $183.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.43 million. Upwork had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 13.96%. On average, research analysts expect that Upwork will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.07, for a total transaction of $241,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,831,978.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 67,531 shares of company stock valued at $851,894 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Upwork

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new position in Upwork in the first quarter worth about $1,344,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Upwork by 56.2% during the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Upwork in the 1st quarter valued at about $152,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 1st quarter worth approximately $355,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 9.7% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 83,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,020,000 after buying an additional 7,332 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.