Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $122.42, but opened at $128.76. Workday shares last traded at $127.7870, with a volume of 528,361 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDAY shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Summit Redstone set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.00.

Workday Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $33.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.31, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $127.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.94.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Workday had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 5.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at $27,942,984.60. This trade represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $1,201,216.84. Following the transaction, the insider owned 165,074 shares in the company, valued at $21,193,850.86. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 882,314 shares of company stock valued at $111,443,691. Company insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,197,332,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190,516 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,371,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210,232 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 101.4% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,077,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525,821 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Workday during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $448,804,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Workday by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,338,773 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $931,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028,085 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.