Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Acquired by LPL Financial LLC

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Workday, Inc. by 11.4%, acquiring an additional 19,372 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately 188,665 shares valued at $43.69 million.
• Workday reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.23 for its latest quarter, surpassing consensus estimates by 22 cents, with revenue also exceeding expectations at $2.24 billion.
• Recent analyst reports show a range of ratings for Workday, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $296.88.

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 188,665 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 19,372 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.07% of Workday worth $43,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WDAY. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Workday by 60.7% in the fourth 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. lifted its holdings in Workday by 1.5% in the fourth 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 period. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 181,899 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Workday in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $658,735,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 767,034 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Workday Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Workday stock traded down $7.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $222.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,088,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,440,214. Workday, Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.81 and a twelve month high of $294.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $239.40 and a 200-day moving average of $246.10. The stock has a market cap of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 73,971 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $17,653,918.86. Following the transaction, the insider owned 102,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,581,264.02. This represents a 41.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.43, for a total value of $1,496,437.50. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 329,005 shares of company stock worth $79,203,523 in the last quarter. Insiders own 20.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on WDAY shares. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Workday from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Workday from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Workday from $310.00 to $275.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Workday from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $296.88.

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.