Prudential PLC Cuts Stock Position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Key Points

• Prudential PLC has reduced its stake in Workday, Inc. by 43.0%, holding 18,286 shares, valued at approximately $4.27 million.
• Analysts have varied ratings for Workday, with a general consensus of a "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $294.31 among multiple firms.
• Workday reported earnings of $2.23 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, while revenue was up 12.6% year-over-year at $2.24 billion.

Prudential PLC reduced its holdings in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 43.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,286 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 13,795 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Workday were worth $4,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDAY. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 5.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,645 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Workday by 13.9% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the software maker's stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 33.8% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,055 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,486,000 after buying an additional 8,093 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Workday in the first quarter worth $290,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 27.8% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,601 shares of the software maker's stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Workday from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 23rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Workday from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Workday from $310.00 to $275.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Workday has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $294.31.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In other news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $352,440.96. This represents a 80.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.86, for a total value of $105,921.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,093,578.22. The trade was a 1.04% 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 over the last three months. 19.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Workday Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:WDAY traded up $4.17 on Friday, reaching $226.09. 2,888,429 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,927,709. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $234.67 and a 200-day moving average of $243.88. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.33 and a 52-week high of $294.00.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 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 the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Workday 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.