Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Workday, Inc. by 41.9% during the first quarter, bringing its total shares to 14,648, valued at approximately $3.42 million.
• Institutional investors own 89.81% of Workday's stock, with notable increases in holdings from several firms, including The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, which grew its stake by 60.7%.
• Workday’s stock price recently declined by 3.1%, and analysts have mixed ratings, with a recent average price target of $296.88 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 41.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,648 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 4,322 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Workday were worth $3,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Workday by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,722,255 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $960,454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,088 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Workday by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,530,701 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $911,027,000 after acquiring an additional 52,104 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Workday by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,963,124 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $764,575,000 after buying an additional 181,899 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Workday in the fourth quarter valued at about $658,735,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Workday by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,263,981 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $584,175,000 after buying an additional 767,034 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Workday news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 451 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.86, for a total value of $105,921.86. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,093,578.22. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $79,203,523 in the last ninety days. 19.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Workday Stock Down 3.1%

WDAY opened at $222.22 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $239.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.13. Workday, Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.81 and a 12 month high of $294.00.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. 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 year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDAY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lowered shares of Workday from a "neutral" rating to a "mixed" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Workday from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Workday from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $296.88.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.