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

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore cut Workday from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Workday from $280.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on Workday from $247.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citizens Jmp cut Workday from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $195.00 price target on Workday in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.71.

Workday Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $30.78 billion, a PE ratio of 46.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $131.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 earnings per share 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.92 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Workday

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.76, for a total value of $13,949,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at $13,631,158.24. This trade represents a 50.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $1,201,216.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 165,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,193,850.86. This trade represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. 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 90 days, insiders sold 989,814 shares of company stock worth $131,576,291. Company insiders own 19.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDAY. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,197,332,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190,516 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Workday by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,009,288 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,371,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210,232 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Workday by 101.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,077,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525,821 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the third quarter valued at approximately $556,252,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Workday in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $448,804,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Workday Company Profile

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.