Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Purchased by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Workday, Inc. by 7.9%, owning 33,236 shares worth approximately $7.76 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Insider activity revealed that CEO Carl M. Eschenbach and CFO Zane Rowe sold shares totaling about $2.93 million, with Eschenbach's sale representing an 80.94% decrease in his holdings.
• Workday's shares recently traded up by 1.9% to $226.09, and the company reported a quarterly earnings of $2.23 per share, exceeding analyst expectations.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 7.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,236 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,443 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Workday were worth $7,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Workday by 76.1% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 125 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 154 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Workday

In other news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.43, for a total transaction of $1,496,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.59, for a total value of $1,437,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 178,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,747,168.62. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 329,005 shares of company stock valued at $79,203,523. 19.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDAY. Morgan Stanley set a $255.00 target price on Workday and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Workday from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Workday from $360.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $294.31.

Workday Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Workday stock traded up $4.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $226.09. The company had a trading volume of 2,888,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,927,709. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market cap of $60.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.24. Workday, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.33 and a fifty-two week high of $294.00. The firm's fifty day moving average is $234.67 and its 200-day moving average is $243.73.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 5.60%. Workday's quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

About Workday

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.