Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 983 Shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 1.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 65,005 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Workday were worth $17,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WDAY. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Workday by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,077 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $18,517,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 32,442 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $8,849,000 after buying an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Workday by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 21,414 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,912,000 after buying an additional 1,933 shares during the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Workday in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,508,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Workday by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 468,915 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $128,851,000 after purchasing an additional 13,502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on Workday from $330.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Workday from $316.00 to $286.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Workday from $310.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Workday from $305.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Workday presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Workday news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 82,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.28, for a total transaction of $17,403,193.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,658,209.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Workday news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 56,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.32, for a total transaction of $12,841,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 562,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,877,840. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 82,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.28, for a total transaction of $17,403,193.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,658,209.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 524,672 shares of company stock worth $115,938,834 in the last three months. 20.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Workday Price Performance

Workday stock opened at $228.64 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00. Workday, Inc. has a 52 week low of $202.01 and a 52 week high of $311.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $223.16 and a 200-day moving average of $256.87.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.20. Workday had a return on equity of 5.78% and a net margin of 19.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Workday, Inc. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Workday

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.