Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 608,426 Shares of Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 64.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 341,494 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 608,426 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Workday worth $82,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Workday by 230.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Workday by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,142 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Workday by 211.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Workday during the second quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Workday by 4.7% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,781 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,108,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Workday from $255.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. UBS Group set a $260.00 price target on Workday in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Workday from $285.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Workday from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.00.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In other Workday news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 3,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $656,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 17,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,590,370. This represents a 15.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Robert Enslin sold 22,185 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.17, for a total value of $4,662,621.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 106,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,347,376.10. This trade represents a 17.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 370,321 shares of company stock worth $78,866,401. Company insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Workday Price Performance

Shares of WDAY opened at $161.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.54. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $157.00 and a 52-week high of $283.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.39 billion, a PE ratio of 67.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The software maker reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.42 billion. Workday had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 10.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Workday 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.