AlphaQuest LLC Grows Position in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 371.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,913 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,418 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Upwork were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Upwork by 415.9% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,877 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in Upwork in the first quarter valued at about $130,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Upwork by 8.0% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Upwork by 11.1% in the second 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 last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 1,093,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,046,353.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 10,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $208,729.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,478.44. The trade was a 51.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 222,576 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,318. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Upwork Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $16.31 on Friday. Upwork Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.13 and a 12-month high of $20.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $17.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.09. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced 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. Upwork had a return on equity of 44.83% and a net margin of 31.75%.The company had revenue of $194.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Upwork’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Upwork declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPWK has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Upwork from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 28th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $21.00 price target on Upwork and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.42.

Upwork Company Profile

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.