Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Workday Put Options (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 19,682 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 67% compared to the typical volume of 11,756 put options.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.70, for a total value of $862,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 288,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,451,702. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.04, for a total transaction of $13,119,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,820,179.96. This represents a 50.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 875,020 shares of company stock worth $113,938,503 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDAY. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its position in Workday by 1.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 3,263 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Workday by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 249 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC lifted its position in Workday by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 5,560 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Red Door Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on WDAY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Workday from $206.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Workday from $155.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Workday in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Workday from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.80.

Workday Price Performance

WDAY stock traded down $8.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $132.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,269,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,094,338. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $132.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.01. Workday has a fifty-two week low of $110.36 and a fifty-two week high of $249.85. The stock has a market cap of $32.71 billion, a PE ratio of 41.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Workday will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

About Workday

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.