Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $275.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $330.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Workday from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded Workday to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on Workday from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Workday from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.11.

Workday Stock Performance

Shares of Workday stock opened at $256.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $68.20 billion, a PE ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $260.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.87. Workday has a one year low of $199.81 and a one year high of $311.28.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Workday will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 472 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.24, for a total value of $117,169.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,789,681.92. This represents a 1.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 56,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.42, for a total value of $13,799,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,785,200. This represents a 48.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 438,819 shares of company stock valued at $113,142,592 in the last three months. 20.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its stake in Workday by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 966 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 1,412 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Workday by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 252 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Workday by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 145 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Workday Company Profile

Workday, Inc provides enterprise cloud applications in the United States and internationally. Its applications help its customers to plan, execute, analyze, and extend to other applications and environments to manage their business and operations. The company offers a suite of financial management applications to maintain accounting information in the general ledger; manage financial processes, such as payables and receivables; identify real-time financial, operational, and management insights; enhance financial consolidation; reduce time-to-close; promote internal control and auditability; and achieve consistency across finance operations.