CLSA Upgrades Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) to “Moderate Sell”

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) was upgraded by analysts at CLSA to a “moderate sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WDAY. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Workday from $206.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Workday from an “overweight” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Workday presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.80.

Workday Stock Performance

Workday stock opened at $147.22 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Workday has a twelve month low of $110.36 and a twelve month high of $249.85. The company has a market capitalization of $36.36 billion, a PE ratio of 46.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.11.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Workday will post 5.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total value of $724,952.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 239,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,304,368.10. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.70, for a total transaction of $862,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 288,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,451,702. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503 over the last 90 days. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Workday

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDAY. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Workday in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Workday in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Workday during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.