Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 5,519 Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 45.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,794 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,519 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Workday were worth $4,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 1.6% in the third quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 8,306 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,030,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,516 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Workday by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Workday by 6.6% in the third quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 17,138 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,189,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC raised its holdings in Workday by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Workday Stock Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ WDAY opened at $268.08 on Friday. Workday, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.81 and a fifty-two week high of $311.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $247.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $71.04 billion, a PE ratio of 46.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 1.35.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The software maker reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Workday had a net margin of 19.59% and a return on equity of 5.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDAY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Workday from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Workday from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Workday has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 56,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.01, for a total transaction of $13,552,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 281,000 shares in the company, valued at $68,004,810. This represents a 16.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Wayne A.I. Frederick sold 1,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total value of $442,101.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at $2,097,806.90. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 370,575 shares of company stock worth $91,506,897. 20.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Workday

Workday, Inc provides enterprise cloud applications in the United States and internationally. Its applications help its customers to plan, execute, analyze, and extend to other applications and environments to manage their business and operations. The company offers a suite of financial management applications to maintain accounting information in the general ledger; manage financial processes, such as payables and receivables; identify real-time financial, operational, and management insights; enhance financial consolidation; reduce time-to-close; promote internal control and auditability; and achieve consistency across finance operations.