Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Decreases Stake in Workday, Inc. $WDAY

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its holdings in shares of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) by 91.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,080 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 1,295,666 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Workday were worth $15,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 1,585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total transaction of $179,184.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 31,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,557,344.35. This trade represents a 4.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 107,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.25, for a total transaction of $12,281,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 105,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,001,848.25. This trade represents 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 774,814 shares of company stock valued at $99,846,591. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WDAY. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Workday from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Thursday, June 11th. William Blair upgraded Workday to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Workday from $155.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $184.00.

Workday News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors appear to be re-rating Workday after its latest quarterly results showed solid revenue growth, stronger-than-expected earnings, and an increased full-year operating margin outlook, reinforcing confidence in the company’s execution and demand trends.
• Positive Sentiment: Workday’s AI and data-platform efforts are helping sentiment, including its AWS Data Cloud integration and broader AI product push, which may support future growth as enterprises spend more on AI-enabled software.
• Positive Sentiment: A market rotation into software has also lifted shares, with investors favoring names like Workday over semiconductors in the latest move across the market.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment has improved, highlighted by Monness Crespi & Hardt upgrading Workday to buy with a $150 price target, adding to a generally constructive analyst backdrop.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent insider selling by major shareholder David Duffield was disclosed under a pre-arranged trading plan, which may limit its significance for day-to-day trading but is still something investors may watch.
• Negative Sentiment: Workday continues to face a lawsuit tied to alleged AI bias in job-screening tools, creating a legal overhang that could temper enthusiasm if the case escalates.

Workday Stock Up 9.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDAY opened at $124.21 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.11. The company has a market capitalization of $30.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Workday, Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $249.85.

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

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.