Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $13.73 Million Position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Free Report) by 49.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,212 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 17,584 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Workday were worth $13,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,142,800 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,197,447,000 after acquiring an additional 4,517,272 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Workday by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,637,387 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,193,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,223 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Workday by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,722,255 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $960,454,000 after buying an additional 1,406,088 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Workday by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,530,701 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $911,027,000 after buying an additional 52,104 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Workday by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,963,124 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $764,575,000 after buying an additional 181,899 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 497 shares of Workday 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,789,921.75. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 3,125 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 321,724 shares of company stock valued at $77,976,126 in the last quarter. Insiders own 19.31% of the company's stock.

Workday Price Performance

Shares of WDAY traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $273.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,328,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,570,744. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $240.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.28, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05. Workday, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.81 and a fifty-two week high of $294.00.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDAY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Workday from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Workday from $310.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Ten equities research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $293.62.

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.