Short Interest in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) Expands By 81.4%

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,520,000 shares, a growth of 81.4% from the December 15th total of 5,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Workday Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDAY opened at $246.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.05. Workday has a 1 year low of $199.81 and a 1 year high of $311.28. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $262.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.28. The firm has a market cap of $65.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.34.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 6.13% and a net margin of 19.86%. Workday’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Workday will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDAY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Workday from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Workday from $274.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim upgraded Workday from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Workday from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 57,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.31, for a total transaction of $15,692,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 284,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,188,040. This trade represents a 16.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.86, for a total value of $1,586,625.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,546,931.92. This trade represents a 30.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 382,347 shares of company stock worth $99,225,903. 20.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Workday during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Workday in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Workday by 42.2% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 145 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC increased its holdings in Workday by 177.4% in the third quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 147 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Workday by 4,766.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 146 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 143 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.