Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,600 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Workday were worth $12,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the third quarter worth about $556,252,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Workday in the fourth quarter worth about $448,804,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Workday by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 571,766 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $122,804,000 after buying an additional 88,384 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its position in Workday by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 27,043 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,808,000 after buying an additional 15,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sienna Gestion purchased a new stake in Workday in the third quarter worth about $7,948,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In related news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total transaction of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.76, for a total value of $13,949,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,631,158.24. The trade was 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 sold a total of 774,814 shares of company stock valued at $101,308,591 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDAY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Workday from $300.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Workday from $206.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings cut Workday from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.03.

Workday Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDAY opened at $144.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Workday, Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.36 and a 12-month high of $257.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.