The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stock Position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its holdings in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 65,568 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,241 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Upwork were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of UPWK. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork in the second quarter worth approximately $2,111,000. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 89.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 23,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter worth $575,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Upwork in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Stock Performance

NASDAQ:UPWK opened at $16.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 3.18. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.81 and a beta of 1.58. Upwork Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.43 and a 1-year high of $17.79.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $193.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.55 million. Upwork had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 22.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Upwork Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Olivier Marie sold 9,153 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.92, for a total value of $145,715.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,600.48. This trade represents a 87.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 9,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.57, for a total value of $99,823.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,178,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,460,444.50. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,808 shares of company stock valued at $2,756,163 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on UPWK shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Upwork from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Upwork from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Upwork from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Upwork has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.36.

Upwork 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.