Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) Short Interest Up 81.4% in December

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,520,000 shares, a growth of 81.4% from the December 15th total of 5,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Workday Stock Up 0.0 %

WDAY stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.03. 2,209,662 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,041,707. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $262.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.44. Workday has a 52 week low of $199.81 and a 52 week high of $311.28. The company has a market cap of $65.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.34.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.13. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The company had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Workday will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Workday

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 57,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.31, for a total value of $15,692,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 284,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,188,040. This represents a 16.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard Harry Sauer sold 3,677 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.90, for a total value of $926,236.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 79,576 shares in the company, valued at $20,045,194.40. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 382,347 shares of company stock valued at $99,225,903. 20.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Workday

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDAY. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Workday by 10.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,985,131 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,218,415,000 after purchasing an additional 480,459 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Workday by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,842,729 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,183,611,000 after buying an additional 67,380 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Workday by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,865,164 shares of the software maker's stock worth $698,285,000 after buying an additional 76,618 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Workday by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,316,167 shares of the software maker's stock worth $566,094,000 after buying an additional 14,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 4.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,972,642 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $482,133,000 after acquiring an additional 75,747 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Workday from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim raised Workday from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Workday from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Workday presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $292.25.

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.