Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $113.04, but opened at $117.54. Workday shares last traded at $115.5990, with a volume of 446,658 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on WDAY shares. Evercore cut Workday from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Workday from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Workday to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.03.

Workday Stock Up 2.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.06. The company has a market capitalization of $29.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.09.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 5.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In other Workday news, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of Workday stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $1,201,216.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,193,850.86. This trade represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total transaction of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at $27,942,984.60. This represents a 2.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 774,814 shares of company stock valued at $99,846,591. 18.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Workday by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,371,495,000 after buying an additional 3,210,232 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,197,332,000 after acquiring an additional 10,190,516 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,770,707 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,098,552,000 after acquiring an additional 96,139 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,842,491 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,406,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,091,926 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,089,970,000 after acquiring an additional 75,922 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Workday

Workday, Inc (NASDAQ: WDAY) is a provider of cloud-based enterprise applications focused on human capital management (HCM) and financial management. Founded in 2005 by Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri following their tenure at PeopleSoft, the company develops software-as-a-service solutions that help organizations manage workforce and financial processes in a unified, cloud-native environment. Workday’s platform emphasizes continuous updates, data security, and a configurable architecture aimed at large and mid-sized enterprises.

The company’s product portfolio centers on Workday Human Capital Management and Workday Financial Management, with additional offerings for payroll, talent management, workforce planning and analytics.