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

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.55% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WDAY. Guggenheim raised Workday from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Workday from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Workday from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Workday from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.54.

Workday Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of WDAY opened at $255.22 on Wednesday. Workday has a fifty-two week low of $199.81 and a fifty-two week high of $311.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $259.97 and its 200 day moving average is $254.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.89 billion, a PE ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.35.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The software maker reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($1.27). Workday had a return on equity of 6.13% and a net margin of 19.86%. Sell-side analysts expect that Workday will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In related news, CEO Carl M. Eschenbach sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.86, for a total transaction of $1,586,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,972 shares in the company, valued at $3,546,931.92. This represents a 30.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 57,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.31, for a total transaction of $15,692,670.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 284,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,188,040. The trade was a 16.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 438,819 shares of company stock valued at $113,142,592. Company insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Workday by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Workday by 7.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 29,633 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,934,000 after buying an additional 1,978 shares during the last quarter. Grafton Street Partners Fund LP acquired a new stake in Workday in the third quarter worth about $4,424,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its stake in shares of Workday by 32.4% during the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 31,878 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,791,000 after acquiring an additional 7,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 702,990 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $182,753,000 after acquiring an additional 119,769 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Workday Company Profile

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.