Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

WDAY has been the subject of several other research reports. William Blair raised Workday to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on Workday in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson set a $135.00 price target on Workday in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Workday from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Workday currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.29.

Workday Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDAY opened at $184.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.56, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.87. Workday has a twelve month low of $110.36 and a twelve month high of $249.85.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Workday will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Workday

In related news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.70, for a total value of $862,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 288,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,451,702. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of Workday stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.04, for a total value of $13,119,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,820,179.96. The trade was a 50.58% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503. Insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDAY. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Workday during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $448,804,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Workday by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 55,605 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $11,943,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new position in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at $2,357,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Workday by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 571,766 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $122,804,000 after purchasing an additional 88,384 shares during the period. Finally, Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Workday by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 27,043 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,808,000 after purchasing an additional 15,138 shares during the period. 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.