Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock Price

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) had its target price lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $315.00 to $330.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 30.23% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Workday in a report on Monday. Barclays decreased their target price on Workday from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price target on Workday from $274.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Workday from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Workday has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.14.

Workday Price Performance

Workday stock opened at $253.40 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $248.74 and its 200 day moving average is $237.44. Workday has a one year low of $199.81 and a one year high of $311.28. The firm has a market cap of $67.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.02, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.13. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Workday will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 66,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.20, for a total value of $17,367,710.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,902,816.40. The trade was a 39.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director George J. Still, Jr. sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.45, for a total transaction of $1,915,875.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 90,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,990,500. This trade represents a 7.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 359,954 shares of company stock valued at $88,742,132. 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. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Workday by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,417 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $659,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Workday by 13.2% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 42,664 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,637,000 after purchasing an additional 4,977 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Workday by 2,119.4% in the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,085 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Workday during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $21,906,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in shares of Workday by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 38,296 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,445,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by 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.