Parnassus Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Parnassus Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 34.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,116,802 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 1,100,403 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Workday were worth $454,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the third quarter valued at approximately $556,252,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $448,804,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Workday by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 571,766 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $122,804,000 after purchasing an additional 88,384 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Workday by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 27,043 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,808,000 after purchasing an additional 15,138 shares during the period. Finally, Sienna Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,948,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Workday Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of Workday stock opened at $130.53 on Friday. Workday, Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $253.54. The firm has a market cap of $32.24 billion, a PE ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.22.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Workday had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. Workday’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of Workday stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $1,201,216.84. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,193,850.86. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,373 shares of Workday stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.41, for a total transaction of $695,319.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,406,225.74. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 774,814 shares of company stock valued at $102,709,316 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDAY has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Workday from $270.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. HC Wainwright set a $140.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Workday to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Workday from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.03.

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.