Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock Price Up 4.6% – What’s Next?

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)’s share price rose 4.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $135.93 and last traded at $134.7740. Approximately 825,916 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 4,991,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WDAY. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Workday from $238.00 to $206.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Workday from $170.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Workday from $280.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Workday from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Workday from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.42.

Workday Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.40. The company has a market capitalization of $32.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.07, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.15. Workday had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.92 earnings per share. Workday’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 165,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,193,850.86. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 Workday stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total transaction of $769,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 217,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,942,984.60. This represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders sold a total of 989,814 shares of company stock valued at $131,576,291 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Workday during the third quarter valued at about $556,252,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,000,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Workday during the 3rd quarter valued at about $124,718,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Workday by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 571,766 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $122,804,000 after acquiring an additional 88,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sienna Gestion purchased a new position in Workday in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,948,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.