Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Position in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its Workday stake by 6.1% in the first quarter, selling 33,115 shares and ending with 510,838 shares worth about $66.4 million.
• Workday’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $2.66 and revenue of $2.54 billion, up 13.5% from a year earlier.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $184 average target price, even as some firms have cut targets or maintained hold ratings.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 510,838 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 33,115 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Workday worth $66,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Workday during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Workday in the third quarter worth $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Workday during the third quarter valued at $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Workday during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Workday during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDAY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Workday from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Workday has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $184.00.

Workday Stock Performance

Shares of WDAY stock traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $138.95. 1,907,705 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,840,891. Workday, Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.36 and a 12-month high of $249.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $34.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.13.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. Workday had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 5.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of Workday stock in a transaction on Sunday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total transaction of $724,952.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 239,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,304,368.10. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.04, for a total transaction of $13,119,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,820,179.96. This represents a 50.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 766,602 shares of company stock valued at $99,108,423. Company insiders own 18.64% of the company's stock.

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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