Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Price Target to $180.00

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $255.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 40.21% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WDAY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Workday from $265.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Workday in a research report on Monday, January 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $238.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Workday from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Workday from $200.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.28.

Workday Price Performance

NASDAQ WDAY traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $128.38. The company had a trading volume of 7,085,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,555,727. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.39, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.13. Workday has a 52 week low of $117.76 and a 52 week high of $281.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. Workday’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Workday will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Workday news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total value of $1,252,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 159,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,224,232.50. This represents a 3.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 3,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.73, for a total transaction of $784,616.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 105,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,951,507.91. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 370,321 shares of company stock valued at $78,866,401. Insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Workday by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,371,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Workday by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,770,707 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,098,552,000 after acquiring an additional 96,139 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,842,491 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,406,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,391 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Workday by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,091,926 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,089,970,000 after buying an additional 75,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Workday by 101.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,077,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525,821 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

More Workday News

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations: revenue and non‑GAAP EPS topped estimates, subscription revenue grew ~15.7% YoY and margins improved, showing operating leverage that supports longer‑term profitability. Workday Q4 results press release
• Positive Sentiment: Management emphasizes AI as a growth catalyst and is increasing AI investments — supporting the company’s long‑term TAM and product differentiation despite near‑term cost pressure. CEO emphasizes AI growth opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish: Needham reaffirmed a Buy with a $300 target and other shops still rate WDAY as an outperform opportunity, providing counter‑balance to downgrades. Analyst notes (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad market context — Nasdaq futures and a positive pre‑open market helped stabilize software names today, which may be supporting a bounce in WDAY despite company‑specific headwinds. Market futures ahead of open
• Negative Sentiment: Weak FY27 subscription revenue guidance: Workday forecast subscription growth below Street estimates (guidance ~12–13%), signaling slower new client wins as customers moderate tech spend — the primary driver of the post‑earnings selloff. Reuters: forecasts below estimates
• Negative Sentiment: AI disruption fears and margin/cost concerns: Investors are worried that AI both threatens parts of the software model and forces heavy near‑term investment; commentary and headlines point to the “cost of competing in AI” denting near‑term margins. MarketWatch: cost of competing in AI
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change and uncertainty: Co‑founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as CEO, adding transition risk that some investors see as a near‑term overhang on execution and sentiment. Yahoo: founder returns as CEO
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and downgrades: Several firms trimmed price targets or downgraded ratings after the cautious outlook (multiple reports summarize cuts and rating changes), which amplifies selling pressure and headline risk. Benzinga: analysts slash forecasts

Workday Company Profile

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.