Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. CLSA started coverage on Workday in a report on Monday, July 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $92.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Workday from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Workday from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.80.

Workday Price Performance

Workday stock opened at $179.64 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.86. Workday has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $249.85. The company has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.14, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Workday will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 2,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.62, for a total transaction of $391,795.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 266,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,258,644.56. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total transaction of $724,952.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 239,469 shares in the company, valued at $32,304,368.10. This trade represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Workday Company Profile

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.