Workday Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Key Points

• Workday, Inc. experienced a surge in options trading, with 14,843 put options purchased on Thursday, indicating a 125% increase from the average daily volume.
• The company reported earnings of $2.23 per share, surpassing estimates, with a 12.6% year-over-year revenue growth resulting in $2.24 billion for the quarter.
• Institutions hold 89.81% of Workday’s stock, with several major hedge funds significantly increasing their stakes in the company recently.

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 14,843 put options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof125% compared to the average daily volume of 6,586 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Workday from $310.00 to $295.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group set a $250.00 target price on Workday and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Workday from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $265.00 price target on Workday in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Workday currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $294.31.

Workday Trading Up 1.9%

WDAY stock traded up $4.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $226.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,888,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,927,709. The company has a market cap of $60.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50 day moving average price is $234.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $243.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Workday has a 12 month low of $205.33 and a 12 month high of $294.00.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.22. Workday had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 5.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Workday will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other Workday news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.43, for a total value of $1,496,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $352,440.96. This trade represents a 80.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 72,551 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.61, for a total value of $17,383,945.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 102,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,679,111.17. This represents a 41.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 329,005 shares of company stock worth $79,203,523 over the last quarter. 19.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its stake in Workday by 1.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 3,263 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 17.2% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 237,048 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $56,937,000 after purchasing an additional 34,716 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in shares of Workday in the second quarter valued at approximately $154,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Workday in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 56.7% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 42,162 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $10,119,000 after purchasing an additional 15,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company's stock.

Workday Company Profile

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.