Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Hits New 12-Month Low - Here's Why

Key Points

• Shares hit a new 52-week low, trading as low as $113.35 (last $111.48) and down about 4.5% on the day amid heavy selling pressure and elevated volume.
• Sentiment was hurt by large insider sales — founder David Duffield sold 107,500 shares (~$13.9M) and insiders have offloaded ~880,729 shares (~$119M) over 90 days — even as Workday reported an earnings beat and 14.5% revenue growth.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive (consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target ~$199.7) but several firms have trimmed ratings/targets, and investor concern over AI competition (Anthropic's Managed Agents) adds near-term uncertainty despite product wins like a Gartner leader placement and a OnePay partnership.

Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $113.35 and last traded at $111.4820, with a volume of 638149 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.17.

Key Stories Impacting Workday

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Partnership win: OnePay joined Workday’s wellness/financial‑wellbeing ecosystem, integrating with Enhanced Direct Deposit Switching and Workday Wellness — a product tie‑in that supports adoption and sticky revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product endorsement: Workday was named a Leader in Gartner’s 2026 Magic Quadrant for Higher Education Student Information Systems — an endorsement that can support long‑term institutional adoption. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst backdrop: Wall Street still leans constructive overall (consensus "Moderate Buy", ~ $199.7 average target) though several firms have trimmed targets recently — this provides a valuation runway but also shows caution. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership change noted: press reports flagged a CTO exit in recent coverage — watch for clarity on succession and any impact to product roadmap. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling: founder David Duffield sold 107,500 shares (~$13.9M) via a disclosed Rule 10b5‑1 plan, cutting his stake roughly in half — the size and visibility of the sale weigh on sentiment even though it was pre‑planned. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider sales: CFO Zane Rowe, Gerrit Kazmaier and Robert Enslin sold modest blocks (reported as 10b5‑1 or to cover tax withholdings) — adds to near‑term selling supply and headlines. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI competitive noise: Anthropic’s announcement of Managed Agents (hosted long‑running AI agents) sparked investor concern about new vendor choices in enterprise AI tooling and potential pressure on pricing/competitive dynamics for SaaS vendors. That announcement was repeatedly cited in coverage of today's move. Read More. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDAY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore downgraded shares of Workday from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Workday from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Loop Capital set a $210.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Workday from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Workday from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Workday presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.71.

Workday Stock Down 4.5%

The stock has a market cap of $29.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm's fifty day moving average is $141.00 and its 200 day moving average is $193.52.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Workday

In other Workday news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $769,320.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at $27,942,984.60. This trade represents a 2.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,373 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.41, for a total transaction of $695,319.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 165,414 shares in the company, valued at $21,406,225.74. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 880,729 shares of company stock valued at $119,321,632. Company insiders own 19.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stance Capital LLC grew its position in Workday by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 6,238 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Workday by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 178,827 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $38,408,000 after acquiring an additional 20,016 shares in the last quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Workday during the 4th quarter valued at about $320,000. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Workday during the 4th quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Workday during the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Workday Company Profile

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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