Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Invests $330,000 in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 22,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Upwork by 107.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Upwork during the 3rd quarter valued at $135,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Upwork during the 3rd quarter valued at $158,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Upwork during the 3rd quarter valued at $164,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Upwork during the 3rd quarter valued at $166,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Upwork

In related news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.07, for a total transaction of $241,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,831,978.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 67,531 shares of company stock valued at $851,894 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 9.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Upwork from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Upwork from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Upwork from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Upwork from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.55.

Upwork Trading Up 3.4 %

UPWK opened at $11.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 165.14 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 3.01, a quick ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Upwork Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.56 and a 12 month high of $16.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $12.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.14.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $183.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $178.43 million. Upwork had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 6.80%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.