Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 target price on the software maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 76.32% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Workday from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Workday from $255.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Workday from $290.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.00.

Workday Stock Performance

WDAY opened at $170.15 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $44.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.49, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.13. Workday has a 12-month low of $156.87 and a 12-month high of $283.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $204.95 and a 200-day moving average of $222.17.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The software maker reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Workday will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 82,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.75, for a total transaction of $17,384,919.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,034,027.75. The trade was a 44.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 3,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $656,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 17,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,590,370. This trade represents a 15.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 370,321 shares of company stock worth $78,866,401 in the last three months. 19.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Workday by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,381 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Workday by 2.8% during the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finivi Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Finivi Inc. now owns 1,516 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in Workday by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,201 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Workday by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 458 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.