Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

WDAY has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Workday in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $340.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Workday from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America cut their target price on Workday from $310.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Workday from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.36.

Workday Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDAY opened at $254.14 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.60 billion, a PE ratio of 42.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $261.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.16. Workday has a 12 month low of $199.81 and a 12 month high of $311.28.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 6.13% and a net margin of 19.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Workday will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Workday

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 70,003 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.20, for a total value of $17,584,753.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 102,997 shares in the company, valued at $25,872,846.40. This trade represents a 40.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Wayne A.I. Frederick sold 1,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total transaction of $442,101.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,806.90. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 304,158 shares of company stock worth $78,650,975 over the last three months. 20.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDAY. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,985,131 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,218,415,000 after acquiring an additional 480,459 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Workday by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,842,729 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,183,611,000 after purchasing an additional 67,380 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,865,164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $698,285,000 after purchasing an additional 76,618 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Workday by 0.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,316,167 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $566,094,000 after buying an additional 14,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Workday by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,972,642 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $482,133,000 after buying an additional 75,747 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.