Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 647,300 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 15,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.25% of Workday worth $178,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Workday by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 67,077 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $18,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Workday by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,727,580 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $586,021,000 after acquiring an additional 872,288 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Workday during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $345,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 278,569 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $76,902,000 after purchasing an additional 103,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Workday by 21.1% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 28,304 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,081,000 after acquiring an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDAY. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Workday from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet raised shares of Workday from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Workday from $310.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Workday presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $293.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 64,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.85, for a total transaction of $17,294,851.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 102,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,690,743.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 64,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.85, for a total transaction of $17,294,851.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,690,743.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Douglas A. Robinson sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.79, for a total transaction of $916,918.59. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,932 shares in the company, valued at $48,749,162.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 435,691 shares of company stock worth $117,731,569. 21.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Workday Stock Performance

WDAY traded up $4.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $255.78. 3,070,009 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,829,353. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.12 and a beta of 1.33. Workday, Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.25 and a 1-year high of $311.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The software maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.10. Workday had a net margin of 19.02% and a return on equity of 4.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. Workday’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.