Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock Breaks Below 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.33 and traded as low as $190.49. Workday shares last traded at $192.90, with a volume of 2,034,894 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WDAY shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of Workday from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Workday from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Workday from $200.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Workday from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $201.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Workday in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $202.10.

Workday Trading Down 3.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $46.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.13, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average is $194.33 and its 200 day moving average is $156.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The software maker reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.64 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other Workday news, major shareholder David Duffield sold 100,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total value of $18,708,799.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,501,296.36. The trade was a 48.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 988,104 shares of company stock valued at $188,811,574 in the last quarter. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lead Edge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Workday in the 1st quarter valued at $79,988,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Workday in the first quarter valued at $75,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 60.4% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,227,051 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $159,418,000 after acquiring an additional 462,002 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion purchased a new position in shares of Workday in the first quarter worth approximately $59,438,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Workday by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 1,439,456 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $176,218,000 after acquiring an additional 437,175 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Workday Company Profile

Workday, Inc develops cloud-based software for managing human resources, finance and business operations. Its products include Workday Human Capital Management, Workday Financial Management and Workday Adaptive Planning, which help organizations manage areas such as workforce administration, accounting, budgeting and forecasting.

Founded in 2005 by Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, Workday serves businesses, governments and educational institutions across a range of industries. Its operations and customer base extend across North America and international markets.

Carl Eschenbach is Workday’s chief executive officer, and co-founder Aneel Bhusri serves as executive chair.