Lazard Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 49.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,212 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 17,584 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Workday were worth $13,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Workday in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Avion Wealth raised its stake in Workday by 452.6% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 105 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Workday in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Workday by 78.6% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 150 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Workday

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $112,595.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,385 shares in the company, valued at $7,789,921.75. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sayan Chakraborty sold 6,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.50, for a total transaction of $1,607,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,556,522. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 321,724 shares of company stock valued at $77,976,126 over the last three months. 19.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDAY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Workday in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $315.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Workday from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Workday from $360.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Daiwa America raised Workday to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $293.62.

Workday Stock Performance

Shares of WDAY opened at $270.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $238.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $71.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.30. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.81 and a 52-week high of $294.00.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The software maker reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Research analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Workday 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.