Insider Selling: Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Major Shareholder Sells $14,699,550.00 in Stock

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) major shareholder David Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.74, for a total transaction of $14,699,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at $14,364,400.26. The trade was a 50.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Workday Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDAY opened at $141.82 on Thursday. Workday, Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.36 and a 52-week high of $249.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $130.83 and a 200-day moving average of $145.08. The company has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

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

Workday News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to frame Workday as an attractive growth/value idea, citing its AI and enterprise software positioning and expectations for profit growth. Workday: The Market Underestimates Profit Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Workday recently benefited from a rotation into oversold enterprise software names, which helped lift the stock alongside peers such as Salesforce and PagerDuty. Salesforce, Workday, and PagerDuty Stocks Trade Up, What You Need To Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Workday’s Asia Pacific leadership appointment may support international execution, but this looks more like a longer-term strategic move than an immediate earnings catalyst. The Bull Case For Workday (WDAY) Could Change Following New Asia Pacific Leadership Appointment – Learn Why
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling, including a large sale by major shareholder David Duffield and a smaller sale by CAO Mark Garfield, is adding caution even though the transactions were made under pre-arranged plans. Mark Garfield Sells 918 Shares of Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Broader software-sector weakness tied to IBM’s disappointing results and comments about customer budget shifts away from software has weighed on Workday and other enterprise software stocks. Software Stocks Sink as IBM Miss Delivers ‘Devastating Blow’

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Workday during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Workday during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Workday during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDAY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Summit Redstone set a $275.00 target price on Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Workday from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.00.

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.