Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 3,210,232 Shares of Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Key Points

• Vanguard raised its stake in Workday by 14.7% in Q4, buying 3,210,232 shares to hold 25,009,288 shares (about 9.51% of the company) valued at roughly $5.37 billion.
• Company insiders have been selling recently — including David A. Duffield (107,500 shares) and Gerrit S. Kazmaier (9,356 shares) — with insiders offloading about 989,814 shares (~$131.6M) over the past 90 days.
• Analysts rate Workday a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a mean price target of $199.71, though several firms have recently trimmed targets to the $165–$180 range while the stock trades near $118 (52‑week range $110.36–$276.00).

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,009,288 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,210,232 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.51% of Workday worth $5,371,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,674,568 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,328,959,000 after buying an additional 74,052 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 47.5% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,842,491 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,406,463,000 after buying an additional 1,882,391 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 41.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,761,599 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $905,530,000 after buying an additional 1,103,421 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 13.1% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,217,205 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $774,478,000 after buying an additional 371,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 50.4% during the third quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,087,395 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $743,229,000 after buying an additional 1,034,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.76, for a total transaction of $13,949,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,631,158.24. The trade was a 50.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $1,201,216.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 165,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,193,850.86. This trade represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 989,814 shares of company stock valued at $131,576,291. 20.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Workday from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Workday from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Workday from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.71.

Workday Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDAY opened at $117.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $30.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's fifty day moving average is $131.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.35. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.36 and a 52-week high of $276.00.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.15. Workday had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS 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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