Baillie Gifford & Co. Lowers Holdings in Upwork Inc. $UPWK

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) by 33.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,178,263 shares of the company’s stock after selling 579,637 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Upwork were worth $21,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Upwork by 68.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 191,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after buying an additional 78,123 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Upwork by 5.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $972,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Upwork by 364.0% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 789,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,305,000 after acquiring an additional 619,459 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Upwork by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 338,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 31,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Upwork by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 171,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 29,805 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the company’s stock.

Upwork Price Performance

Shares of Upwork stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.21. Upwork Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.13 and a 12 month high of $22.32.

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). Upwork had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 31.63%.The firm had revenue of $201.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Upwork has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.350-1.370 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.310-0.330 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Upwork Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UPWK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Upwork in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Upwork in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Upwork in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Upwork in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Upwork from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Upwork

In other news, Director Gary Steele sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.51, for a total value of $218,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 85,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,490,608.79. This represents a 12.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dave Bottoms sold 9,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.66, for a total transaction of $198,790.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,127.70. This represents a 96.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 523,248 shares of company stock worth $10,029,741 over the last three months. 7.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Upwork Company Profile

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.