Insider Buying: The Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) Independent Director Just Bought 24% More Shares
Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, Gregory Gretsch, recently bought a whopping US$8.1m worth of stock, at a price of US$14.71. Not only is that a big swing, but it increased their holding size by 24%, which is definitely great to see.
Check out our latest analysis for Upwork
Upwork Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent purchase by Gregory Gretsch was the biggest purchase of Upwork shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$14.99. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Upwork share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$16m for 1.37m shares. But they sold 36.43k shares for US$543k. Overall, Upwork insiders were net buyers during the last year. The average buy price was around US$11.48. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Upwork is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Insider Ownership of Upwork
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Upwork insiders own 9.8% of the company, worth about US$177m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Upwork Insiders?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Upwork insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. One for the watchlist, at least! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Upwork. You'd be interested to know, that we found 3 warning signs for Upwork and we suggest you have a look.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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