Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd Acquires Shares of 17,000 Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd bought a new stake in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,000 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,387,000. Workday accounts for 2.5% of Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDAY. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 452.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 105 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 78.6% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 150 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Workday Stock Performance

Shares of Workday stock traded down $5.30 on Wednesday, hitting $268.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,590,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,565,388. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.81 and a 52-week high of $294.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $71.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $242.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.01.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The software maker reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($1.27). Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.18 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDAY. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Workday from $360.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Workday from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Workday from $310.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Workday from $300.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded Workday to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Workday presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $293.62.

Insider Activity

In other Workday news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 3,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.61, for a total transaction of $733,156.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,544,814.67. This represents a 22.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 497 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $112,595.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,789,921.75. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 321,724 shares of company stock valued at $77,976,126. Insiders own 19.31% of the company's stock.

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.