Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Shares Up 7.2% – Time to Buy?

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) shot up 7.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $137.38 and last traded at $139.4120. 963,283 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 5,079,508 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.01.

More Workday News

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Workday’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with revenue and earnings topping estimates and management highlighting renewed momentum in the core business plus stronger AI-driven demand for HR and finance automation. This has supported the stock’s recent move higher.
• Positive Sentiment: Workday expanded its strategic partnership with Google Cloud to bring AI agents for HR and finance into Gemini Enterprise and daily workflows, reinforcing the company’s AI product story and potentially improving long-term adoption. Workday and Google Cloud Expand Strategic Partnership to Bring AI Agents for HR and Finance Into Employees’ Daily Workflows
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage has been constructive, with commentary around Workday being a top momentum and value name, and Bank of America reportedly reinstating coverage while acknowledging the strength of its sticky enterprise software franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader software sentiment improved after Snowflake’s strong results eased fears that AI would displace subscription software, which helped lift Workday and other SaaS names as investors rotated back into AI-enabled enterprise platforms.
• Neutral Sentiment: Workday also announced a deeper Google Cloud integration for AI agents and other product enhancements, which is strategically important but still needs time to translate into sustained revenue acceleration.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the recent rebound, Workday remains well below its 52-week high and has lagged the broader market over the past year, so some investors may still view the rally as a recovery move rather than a full trend reversal.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WDAY. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a report on Monday, May 18th. Loop Capital set a $210.00 price objective on Workday in a report on Thursday, March 12th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Workday from $155.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Guggenheim cut their target price on Workday from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Workday in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.03.

Workday Trading Up 12.4%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $37.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.68, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.04.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 217,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,942,984.60. This represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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, insider Robert Enslin sold 5,373 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.41, for a total value of $695,319.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 165,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,406,225.74. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 quarter, insiders have sold 989,814 shares of company stock valued at $131,576,291. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Finivi Inc. increased its stake in shares of Workday by 3.3% in the third quarter. Finivi Inc. now owns 1,516 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI increased its stake in shares of Workday by 1.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 3,263 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Workday by 5.1% during the third quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in Workday by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 249 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.