Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.63% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Workday from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Workday from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $340.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Workday from $270.00 to $242.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Workday from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Workday currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.43.

Workday Stock Up 6.3 %

Shares of WDAY opened at $276.17 on Thursday. Workday has a 12 month low of $199.81 and a 12 month high of $311.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $261.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $249.72. The firm has a market cap of $73.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.80, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 1.35.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Workday will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 56,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,785,200. This represents a 48.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sayan Chakraborty sold 5,498 shares of Workday stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $1,378,788.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 121,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,369,458. The trade was a 4.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 438,819 shares of company stock valued at $113,142,592. Company insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDAY. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Workday by 7.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 29,633 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,978 shares in the last quarter. Grafton Street Partners Fund LP bought a new position in shares of Workday during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,424,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Workday by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 31,878 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,791,000 after purchasing an additional 7,802 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Workday by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 702,990 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $182,753,000 after purchasing an additional 119,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its position in Workday by 19.3% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 44,324 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $10,833,000 after buying an additional 7,175 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.