Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Workday to “buy” from “hold,” although analysts overall maintain a consensus “hold” rating with an average price target of $206.34.
• Workday’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with adjusted earnings of $2.75 per share and revenue of $2.65 billion, up 12.8% year over year.
• The stock opened at $195.79, while insiders sold $116.8 million worth of shares in the last quarter; institutional investors own approximately 89.8% of the company.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Workday from $140.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Workday from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Workday from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Workday from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Workday has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $206.34.

Workday Stock Down 5.4%

NASDAQ:WDAY opened at $195.79 on Friday. Workday has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $249.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $166.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.61. The stock has a market cap of $48.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The software maker reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.14. Workday had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 12.32%.The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. Workday's revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Workday will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Sunday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total value of $724,952.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 239,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,304,368.10. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 288,460 shares in the company, valued at $41,451,702. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders sold 862,481 shares of company stock worth $116,785,581 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,115,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter valued at about $448,804,000. S&CO Inc. bought a new position in Workday during the second quarter worth about $2,284,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Workday by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 55,605 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,943,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new position in Workday during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

About Workday

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.

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