Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $255.00 to $285.00. The stock had previously closed at $255.22, but opened at $279.99. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Workday shares last traded at $273.01, with a volume of 2,207,231 shares changing hands.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Workday from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Workday from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Workday from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.11.

Insider Activity

In other Workday news, Director Wayne A.I. Frederick sold 1,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.09, for a total value of $462,901.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,732,401.05. This represents a 21.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sayan Chakraborty sold 5,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $1,378,788.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 121,100 shares in the company, valued at $30,369,458. The trade was a 4.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 438,819 shares of company stock valued at $113,142,592 in the last three months. 20.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 966 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 1,412 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Workday by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 252 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Workday by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 145 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Workday Stock Up 6.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $72.11 billion, a PE ratio of 44.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $260.01 and its 200 day moving average is $254.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The software maker reported $0.48 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 net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.