Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Workday from “buy” to “hold,” though the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $179.80.
• Workday reported quarterly EPS of $2.66, exceeding estimates of $2.51, while revenue rose 13.5% year over year to $2.54 billion.
• Insiders sold 875,020 shares worth approximately $113.9 million in the last quarter, while institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. HC Wainwright set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Workday from $206.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Workday from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $185.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Workday in a report on Thursday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $179.80.

Workday Trading Up 5.5%

Shares of NASDAQ WDAY opened at $179.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.14, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.20. Workday has a 52 week low of $110.36 and a 52 week high of $249.85.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Workday will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other Workday news, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total value of $724,952.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 239,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,304,368.10. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of Workday stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.70, for a total value of $862,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 288,460 shares in the company, valued at $41,451,702. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDAY. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Workday in the fourth quarter valued at $448,804,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 15,903 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Workday during the fourth quarter worth $2,357,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Workday by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 571,766 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $122,804,000 after acquiring an additional 88,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Workday by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 27,043 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,808,000 after acquiring an additional 15,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

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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