Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Trading Down 6.1% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Workday shares fell 6.1% after mid-day trading following insider selling, with the stock briefly dropping as low as $132.26 before last trading around $136.05.
• Major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares at an average price of $136.74, a transaction worth about $14.7 million. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Despite the selloff, analysts remain generally constructive on Workday, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $184 average price target. The company also recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue expectations, supporting the bullish view.

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) shares traded down 6.1% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $132.26 and last traded at $136.0510. Approximately 891,880 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,122,433 shares. The stock had previously closed at $144.87.

Specifically, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.74, for a total value of $14,699,550.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at $14,364,400.26. This trade represents a 50.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Monday, May 18th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. DA Davidson set a $135.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Workday from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Workday presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $184.00.

Workday News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are rotating into enterprise software, lifting Workday with other oversold software names as chip stocks weaken. Salesforce, Workday, and PagerDuty Stocks Trade Up, What You Need To Know
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still see value in Workday, citing a lower valuation and rising earnings estimates versus some enterprise AI peers. Workday vs. Arista: Which Enterprise AI Stock Has More Upside Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Workday was also part of a mixed session for enterprise software as the Nasdaq sold off, suggesting broader sector volatility rather than a company-specific problem. Enterprise software stocks mixed as tech-heavy Nasdaq takes hit
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder David Duffield sold 107,500 shares, which may create some caution despite the sale being made under a pre-arranged trading plan. Workday insider trade disclosure

Workday Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $130.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.14. The firm has a market cap of $33.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.11.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. Workday had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 5.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDAY. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Workday during the second quarter valued at $591,000. Tema ETFs LLC raised its position in shares of Workday by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 4,515 shares of the software maker's stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Workday by 57.4% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 126,296 shares of the software maker's stock worth $15,461,000 after acquiring an additional 46,051 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Workday in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,045,000. Finally, Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Workday in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

About Workday

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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