Royal Bank of Canada Reduces Position in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada cut its Workday stake by 52% in the first quarter, selling 400,780 shares and retaining 370,061 shares valued at approximately $48.1 million.
• Institutional investors still hold a substantial 89.81% of Workday’s outstanding stock, while company insiders sold $113.9 million worth of shares over the past 90 days, primarily through pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.
• Workday exceeded quarterly expectations with $2.66 in EPS and $2.54 billion in revenue, up 13.5% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $179.80.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 52.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 370,061 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 400,780 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.14% of Workday worth $48,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Workday during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Workday in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other Workday news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of Workday stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.70, for a total value of $862,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 288,460 shares in the company, valued at $41,451,702. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total value of $724,952.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 239,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,304,368.10. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders sold a total of 875,020 shares of company stock worth $113,938,503 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Barclays upgraded Workday from an "overweight" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. DA Davidson set a $135.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Workday from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.80.

Workday Price Performance

Shares of WDAY stock opened at $160.34 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $136.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.59. Workday, Inc. has a 1-year low of $110.36 and a 1-year high of $249.85. The firm has a market cap of $39.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business's revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Workday

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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