Ascent Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,448 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Workday were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Avion Wealth boosted its position in Workday by 452.6% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 105 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Workday by 78.6% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 150 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Workday Stock Down 12.5%

Shares of Workday stock opened at $238.01 on Tuesday. Workday, Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.81 and a 1 year high of $294.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $242.28 and a 200 day moving average of $254.06. The firm has a market cap of $63.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.47, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.22. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Workday’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WDAY shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Workday from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Workday from $310.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Westpark Capital upped their price objective on shares of Workday from $315.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $293.54.

Insider Activity at Workday

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $112,595.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,789,921.75. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 81,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.68, for a total transaction of $17,448,117.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,997 shares in the company, valued at $22,111,395.96. This trade represents a 44.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 321,724 shares of company stock valued at $77,976,126. 19.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Workday

Workday, Inc provides enterprise cloud applications in the United States and internationally. Its applications help its customers to plan, execute, analyze, and extend to other applications and environments to manage their business and operations. The company offers a suite of financial management applications to maintain accounting information in the general ledger; manage financial processes, such as payables and receivables; identify real-time financial, operational, and management insights; enhance financial consolidation; reduce time-to-close; promote internal control and auditability; and achieve consistency across finance operations.