Insider Selling: Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Major Shareholder Sells $18,563,672.60 in Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder David Duffield sold 96,545 Workday shares for approximately $18.6 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, reducing his direct ownership by 47.89%.
• Workday shares traded at $199.21, with the stock up sharply from its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The company recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, while revenue increased 12.8% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: 20 analysts rate the stock Buy, 18 Hold and two Sell, with a consensus price target of $206.34. Institutional investors own approximately 89.81% of Workday’s shares.

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) major shareholder David Duffield sold 96,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.28, for a total value of $18,563,672.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,198,821.72. The trade was a 47.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Workday Stock Performance

WDAY stock traded up $11.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $199.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,249,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,951,570. The stock has a market cap of $48.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.41, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $174.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.53. Workday, Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $249.85.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The software maker reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 12.32%.The business's revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Workday in the second quarter worth $1,115,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Workday during the fourth quarter valued at about $448,804,000. S&CO Inc. purchased a new stake in Workday during the second quarter valued at about $2,284,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Workday by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 55,605 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,943,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Workday during the fourth quarter worth about $2,357,000. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDAY has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Workday from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Lake Street Capital set a $205.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Workday from $200.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Workday from $139.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Workday from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Workday has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $206.34.

Workday Company Profile

Workday, Inc develops cloud-based enterprise software designed to help organizations manage finance, human resources and related business operations. Its platform provides tools for financial management, accounting, procurement, expenses, payroll, workforce management, recruiting, talent management, employee experience and enterprise planning.

The company also offers analytics, reporting and artificial intelligence capabilities that support budgeting, forecasting, workforce planning and business decision-making.

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