Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 20,322.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,850 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,459 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Upwork were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in Upwork during the fourth quarter worth about $544,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Upwork during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $419,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 178,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,387 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Upwork by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 93,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,497,000 after purchasing an additional 25,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Upwork by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 413,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,757,000 after buying an additional 35,074 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank began coverage on Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Upwork has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 21,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.15, for a total value of $341,120.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,275,083 shares in the company, valued at $20,592,590.45. This represents a 1.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 5,411 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total value of $70,721.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,380.51. The trade was a 36.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 193,365 shares of company stock valued at $3,050,760. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $12.74 on Monday. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.43 and a twelve month high of $18.14. The company has a quick ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day moving average is $13.96 and its 200 day moving average is $14.73. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 1.60.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.79. Upwork had a return on equity of 50.83% and a net margin of 28.02%. Research analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

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.