Key Points
- Workday CAO Mark Garfield sold 918 shares for approximately $173,915 at an average price of $189.45 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his position by 1.31% while retaining 69,309 shares.
- Workday recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.75 in adjusted EPS and $2.65 billion in revenue, with revenue up 12.8% year over year.
- Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating and a $205.55 price target, while Workday’s AI expansion—including its Anthropic partnership, new Sana capabilities and planned C1.ai acquisition—supports its long-term growth strategy amid concerns about slowing sales growth.
Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) CAO Mark Garfield sold 918 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.45, for a total transaction of $173,915.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 69,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,130,590.05. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Workday Stock Up 1.5%
Shares of WDAY opened at $188.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $45.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Workday, Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $247.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.89.
Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 27th. The software maker reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.64 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Workday, Inc. will post 5.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho set a $210.00 target price on Workday in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Workday from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Workday from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Workday from $182.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Workday from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $205.55.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Workday
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,197,332,000 after buying an additional 10,190,516 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 101.4% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,077,537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525,821 shares in the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Workday in the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,083,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Workday by 840.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 765,049 shares of the software maker's stock worth $164,317,000 after acquiring an additional 683,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lead Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Workday in the 1st quarter worth approximately $79,988,000. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Key Headlines Impacting Workday
Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Workday announced a partnership with Anthropic that will connect Claude’s reasoning capabilities with Workday’s Sana agents, governed data and business rules. Customers will be able to find information, take actions and approve work through Claude or Sana, strengthening Workday’s enterprise AI positioning. Anthropic partnership
- Positive Sentiment: At its investor event, Workday introduced expanded Sana capabilities, Decision Intelligence, Work Intelligence and a headless Trusted Agent Platform. These offerings could increase customer adoption, improve retention and create new monetization opportunities across human resources, finance and IT. Workday AI product announcements
- Positive Sentiment: Workday agreed to acquire C1.ai, an agentic identity platform that manages access for employees and AI agents. The transaction could broaden Workday’s security and governance capabilities, though financial terms and the earnings impact were not disclosed. C1.ai acquisition
- Positive Sentiment: A new Candidate Profile lets job seekers save application information for reuse across Workday-powered applications, potentially improving the recruiting experience and supporting customer engagement. Candidate Profile announcement
- Neutral Sentiment: UBS lowered its Workday price target from $220 to $210 and maintained a Neutral rating. The target still implies potential upside, but the revision signals limited near-term conviction. UBS price target update
- Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about decelerating sales growth despite management’s forecast for continued double-digit revenue growth, raising questions about how quickly the AI strategy will translate into material financial results. Workday growth outlook
- Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder David Duffield sold 99,835 shares worth approximately $18.7 million, while Chief Accounting Officer Mark Garfield sold 918 shares. Both transactions used pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their signaling value, but the sales may still weigh on sentiment. Insider sale filings
Workday Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
Workday, Inc develops cloud-based enterprise software for managing an organization's people, finances and operations. Its platform is primarily used by businesses, government agencies and educational institutions to support human resources, finance, planning, analytics and related administrative processes.
The company's offerings include Workday Human Capital Management, Financial Management, Adaptive Planning, Spend Management, payroll, recruiting, talent management, learning and workforce analytics.
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