Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys Shares of 102,161 Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 102,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,670,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of UPWK. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Upwork in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,369,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Upwork by 2,216.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 503,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,263,000 after acquiring an additional 481,942 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Upwork by 12.5% during the third quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 2,334,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,397,000 after acquiring an additional 260,274 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Upwork by 659.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 172,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,822,000 after purchasing an additional 149,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Upwork by 228.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 211,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 147,059 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Upwork

In other Upwork news, CEO Hayden Brown sold 9,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total transaction of $118,610.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,223,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,294.87. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth A. Nelson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.58, for a total value of $1,318,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,299 shares in the company, valued at $286,536.42. This trade represents a 82.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 193,365 shares of company stock valued at $3,050,760 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on UPWK shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Upwork from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Upwork from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on Upwork from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Upwork in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Upwork from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.58.

Upwork Stock Performance

Shares of UPWK opened at $13.66 on Friday. Upwork Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.43 and a 12-month high of $18.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $15.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.38.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal 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.