Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stock Position in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Key Points

• Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its Workday stake by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 16,456 shares to bring its total holdings to 81,155 shares worth about $17.4 million.
• Insider selling continued, with CFO Zane Rowe and insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier both selling shares on April 7 under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans tied to tax withholding; insiders have sold nearly 990,000 shares over the last three months.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but still constructive: several firms cut price targets, yet the stock’s consensus rating remains “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $198.42, while Workday most recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates.

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 25.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,155 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 16,456 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Workday were worth $17,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Profund Advisors LLC raised its position in Workday by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 28,072 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,029,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Workday by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 384,198 shares of the software maker's stock worth $82,518,000 after acquiring an additional 98,607 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Workday by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 29,222 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,953 shares during the period. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC raised its position in Workday by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 4,338 shares of the software maker's stock worth $932,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Workday by 101.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the software maker's stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total transaction of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,942,984.60. This trade represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $1,201,216.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 165,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,193,850.86. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 989,814 shares of company stock valued at $131,576,291. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WDAY shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Workday from $200.00 to $135.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Robert W. Baird set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Workday from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Workday from $250.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $198.42.

Workday Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDAY opened at $126.61 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Workday, Inc. has a 52 week low of $110.36 and a 52 week high of $274.11.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. Workday had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.92 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Workday Company Profile

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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