2,089,600 Shares in Workday, Inc. $WDAY Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new position in Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,089,600 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $448,804,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Workday in the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new stake in Workday in the fourth quarter worth approximately $246,000. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its position in Workday by 564.5% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 3,296 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the period. SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new stake in Workday in the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Workday by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,236 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,554,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. 89.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WDAY. William Blair upgraded Workday to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Workday from $270.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Workday in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Workday to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Workday from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.22, for a total value of $769,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 217,930 shares in the company, valued at $27,942,984.60. This represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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, insider Gerrit S. Kazmaier sold 9,356 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $1,201,216.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 165,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,193,850.86. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 882,314 shares of company stock valued at $117,128,291. 18.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Workday Price Performance

WDAY opened at $157.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.08 and a 200-day moving average of $164.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.13, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.09. Workday, Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.36 and a 12-month high of $257.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The software maker reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 8.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Workday, Inc. will post 5.18 EPS 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.