Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $126.60, but opened at $115.38. Workday shares last traded at $116.1150, with a volume of 895,999 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDAY. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on Workday from $180.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Workday from $250.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Evercore lowered Workday from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Workday from $238.00 to $206.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.71.

Workday Trading Down 9.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $29.39 billion, a PE ratio of 44.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $132.82 and a 200 day moving average of $185.25.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 13.37% and a net margin of 7.26%.The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.33, for a total transaction of $12,075,475.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,800,154.17. This trade represents a 50.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $769,320.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,942,984.60. The trade was a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 989,814 shares of company stock worth $131,576,291. Insiders own 19.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDAY. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Workday by 25,412.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,197,332,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190,516 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Workday by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,371,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210,232 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Workday by 101.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,077,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525,821 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Workday during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $556,252,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Workday during the 4th quarter worth approximately $448,804,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.