Janus Henderson Group PLC Has $712,000 Position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 34.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 68,070 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,482 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Upwork were worth $712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Upwork during the second quarter worth $27,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Upwork in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Quarry LP raised its position in Upwork by 104.2% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Upwork by 45.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Upwork during the second quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPWK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Upwork in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Upwork from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Upwork from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on Upwork from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Elizabeth A. Nelson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.54, for a total value of $790,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 48,915 shares in the company, valued at $515,564.10. This trade represents a 60.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of Upwork stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total transaction of $200,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,170,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,717,315.61. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,808 shares of company stock worth $2,756,163 in the last three months. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of UPWK opened at $16.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81 and a beta of 1.58. Upwork Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.43 and a 52-week high of $17.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.18.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $193.78 million for 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%. Upwork’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

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.