Insider Selling: Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) CFO Sells $192,574.92 in Stock

Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) CFO Erica Gessert sold 22,844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.43, for a total value of $192,574.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 364,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,171.27. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Erica Gessert also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 18th, Erica Gessert sold 9,169 shares of Upwork stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.15, for a total value of $74,727.35.

Upwork Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:UPWK traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $8.66. 1,798,371 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,843,327. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.83 and a 200 day moving average of $10.59. Upwork Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.44 and a twelve month high of $22.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Upwork had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The firm had revenue of $191.66 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Upwork has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.430 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Upwork

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Upwork by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,231,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,166,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,970 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Upwork during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,214,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Upwork by 785.7% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,322,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060,356 shares during the period. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Upwork in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,136,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Upwork by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,288,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,185,000 after acquiring an additional 900,318 shares in the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPWK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Upwork from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Upwork from $17.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Upwork from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $11.50 target price on shares of Upwork in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Upwork from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.05.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc operates a leading online talent marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals worldwide. Through its digital platform, the company enables clients across industries—including technology, marketing, creative services and customer support—to source, hire and manage freelance talent on demand. Key features of the Upwork platform include streamlined job posting, proposal evaluation, time-tracking tools, invoicing and secure payment processing, all designed to simplify collaboration between clients and remote workers.

The company traces its roots to the merger of two pioneering freelance marketplaces, Elance (founded in 1998) and oDesk (founded in 2003), which combined in 2015 to form a unified entity.