Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $126.60, but opened at $115.38. Workday shares last traded at $116.1150, with a volume of 895,999 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WDAY shares. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Workday from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Workday from $298.00 to $214.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered Workday from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Workday from $238.00 to $206.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.71.

Workday Trading Down 9.7%

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 has a market cap of $29.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.25.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 13.37% and a net margin of 7.26%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,373 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.41, for a total transaction of $695,319.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 165,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,406,225.74. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $1,201,216.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 165,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,193,850.86. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. 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 have sold a total of 989,814 shares of company stock worth $131,576,291 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 19.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Finivi Inc. increased its position in Workday by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Finivi Inc. now owns 1,516 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Workday by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,128 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $994,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its stake in Workday by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 3,263 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC boosted its stake in Workday by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in Workday by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,732 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.