Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) Shares Up 8.8% – Still a Buy?

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) shot up 8.8% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $9.87 and last traded at $9.9550. 1,358,614 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 3,520,547 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UPWK has been the subject of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Upwork from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Upwork from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Upwork from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Upwork from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.05.

Upwork Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.03.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The business had revenue of $191.66 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Upwork has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Upwork news, COO Anthony Kappus sold 45,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total transaction of $386,435.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 76,342 shares in the company, valued at $645,089.90. This represents a 37.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 73,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total value of $617,421.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 771,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,500,170.68. The trade was a 8.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 178,868 shares of company stock worth $1,509,462. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UPWK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Upwork by 26.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,715,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,720,000 after acquiring an additional 779,506 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in Upwork during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,214,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Upwork by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,097,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,031,000 after purchasing an additional 133,078 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Upwork by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 737,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,163,000 after purchasing an additional 463,348 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Upwork in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,156,000. 77.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Upwork Company Profile

Upwork Inc operates a global work marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals and agencies. Clients use the platform to find, evaluate, hire and manage talent for projects across areas such as software development, design, marketing, writing, consulting, customer support and administrative services.

The company provides tools for talent discovery, project collaboration, communications, time tracking, contract management and payments. Its offerings serve both individual clients and larger organizations, with features designed to support recurring engagements, contingent-work programs and enterprise talent management.

Upwork was formed in 2015 through the merger of Elance and oDesk, two online freelance-work platforms, and began trading publicly on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2018.