Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock Price

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at Barclays from $230.00 to $200.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 54.12% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. DA Davidson set a $125.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Workday from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $325.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their target price on Workday from $230.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.66.

Workday Trading Down 0.4%

WDAY traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.77. 12,626,217 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,707,607. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $184.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.51. Workday has a 1-year low of $117.76 and a 1-year high of $281.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Workday will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 6,547 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.77, for a total transaction of $1,432,287.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 111,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,360,695.81. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 82,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.75, for a total transaction of $17,384,919.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at $22,034,027.75. This represents a 44.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 370,321 shares of company stock worth $78,866,401 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDAY. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Workday in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Workday by 136.4% during the second quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC now owns 130 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Workday News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat — Workday reported stronger-than-expected fiscal Q4 results with EPS and revenue above consensus, driven by solid subscription growth and rising backlog, supporting the longer-term growth story. Workday Q4 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Bull thesis & catalyst — Management is leaning into agentic AI as a growth catalyst and some firms (e.g., Needham) reaffirm Buy with high price targets, signaling conviction in longer-term upside despite near-term headwinds. Needham Buy Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro / sector noise — The stock is trading amid broader software/AI-driven volatility; sector sentiment and macro uncertainty are amplifying reactions to guidance rather than fundamentals alone. Market Context
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance miss — Workday guided FY27 subscription revenue below Street estimates (slower new client wins amid corporate spending caution), which triggered an after-hours selloff and renewed investor concern about near-term growth. Reuters: Guidance Below Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure from AI investment — Analysts flagged that accelerated AI spending will compress near-term margins (and operating income guidance disappointed), which weighed on sentiment despite the quarter’s beat. MarketWatch: Cost of Competing in AI
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and downgrades — Multiple banks trimmed price targets or downgraded WDAY (Piper Sandler, BMO, BTIG, TD Cowen, Evercore, Mizuho, Rosenblatt, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan moves noted), increasing near-term selling pressure and raising uncertainty around consensus estimates. Benzinga: Analyst Activity

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.