Investors Purchase High Volume of Workday Put Options (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 19,682 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 67% compared to the average daily volume of 11,756 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.19, for a total value of $130,530.42. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 73,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,962.42. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.74, for a total value of $14,699,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,364,400.26. This represents a 50.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 875,020 shares of company stock valued at $113,938,503. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WDAY. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Workday in the 2nd quarter valued at $591,000. Tema ETFs LLC lifted its position in Workday by 34.9% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 4,515 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Workday by 57.4% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 126,296 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $15,461,000 after acquiring an additional 46,051 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Workday in the second quarter valued at $13,045,000. Finally, Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Workday in the second quarter valued at $2,249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $216.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Workday from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Workday from $206.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.80.

Workday Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDAY opened at $127.87 on Friday. Workday has a 52 week low of $110.36 and a 52 week high of $249.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $132.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.88. The company has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.11. 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 (NASDAQ:WDAY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.15. The firm 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 firm’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Workday will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.