Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 254,623 Shares of Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its Workday stake by 210.3% in the second quarter, acquiring 254,623 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 375,703 shares worth approximately $46 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of Workday’s stock.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive view, with Workday receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $179.80. Ratings include 19 Buys, one Strong Buy, 13 Holds and three Sells.
• Workday reported quarterly earnings of $2.66 per share and revenue of $2.54 billion, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue grew 13.5% year over year. Shares opened at $179.64, compared with a 12-month range of $110.36 to $249.85.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 210.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 375,703 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 254,623 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.15% of Workday worth $45,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDAY. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,197,332,000 after acquiring an additional 10,190,516 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Workday by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,371,495,000 after buying an additional 3,210,232 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Workday by 101.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,077,537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525,821 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Workday during the 4th quarter worth approximately $448,804,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,338,773 shares of the software maker's stock worth $931,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028,085 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total value of $724,952.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 239,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,304,368.10. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. William Blair raised shares of Workday to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.80.

Workday Price Performance

Shares of WDAY stock opened at $179.64 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.20. The company has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Workday, Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.36 and a twelve month high of $249.85.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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