GSA Capital Partners LLP Makes New Investment in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP has acquired a new stake in Workday, Inc., purchasing 5,364 shares valued at approximately $1,253,000.
• Workday reported a quarterly EPS of $2.23, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 12.6%.
• Workday's stock opened at $237.68 after recent fluctuations, with analysts issuing a mix of ratings including a consensus of "Moderate Buy."

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,364 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,253,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WDAY. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Workday by 230.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Workday by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 3,075 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $793,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Workday by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,390 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,713,000 after buying an additional 1,764 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Workday by 124.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 227,752 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $58,767,000 after buying an additional 126,349 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Workday by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 7,362 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,899,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Workday Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of WDAY stock traded down $7.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $222.22. The company had a trading volume of 4,088,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,786. Workday, Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.81 and a 12 month high of $294.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $239.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.15. The company has a market cap of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.24.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.22. Workday had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 5.60%. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDAY. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Workday from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Workday from $310.00 to $295.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Workday from $310.00 to $275.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $296.88.

Insider Activity at Workday

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 72,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.61, for a total transaction of $17,383,945.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 102,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,679,111.17. This trade represents a 41.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.43, for a total value of $1,496,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at $352,440.96. The trade was a 80.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,005 shares of company stock valued at $79,203,523 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 19.31% of the company's stock.

Workday Company Profile

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.