Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Downgraded to Equal Weight Rating by Morgan Stanley

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $275.00 target price on the software maker's stock, down from their previous target price of $330.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.26% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Workday from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank started coverage on Workday in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $340.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on Workday from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Workday from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Workday from $310.00 to $285.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $291.11.

Workday Price Performance

WDAY traded down $5.24 on Wednesday, hitting $256.39. 2,193,210 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,059,000. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $261.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Workday has a one year low of $199.81 and a one year high of $311.28. The firm has a market cap of $68.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.35.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Workday had a net margin of 19.86% and a return on equity of 6.13%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Workday will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Workday

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 70,090 shares of Workday stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.53, for a total transaction of $17,840,007.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 102,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,215,826.41. The trade was a 40.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Sayan Chakraborty sold 5,498 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $1,378,788.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,369,458. This trade represents a 4.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 438,819 shares of company stock valued at $113,142,592 in the last three months. Company insiders own 20.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Workday

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Workday by 73.1% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 289 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Workday by 5.4% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Workday by 13.0% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the software maker's stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Workday by 9.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,460 shares of the software maker's stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Workday by 84.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 18,334 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $4,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,391 shares in the last quarter. 89.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Workday

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.