Workday Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 14,820 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 91% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,739 call options.

Workday Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ WDAY opened at $270.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $248.52 and a 200-day moving average of $237.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Workday has a 1-year low of $199.81 and a 1-year high of $311.28. The firm has a market cap of $71.60 billion, a PE ratio of 47.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.35.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The software maker reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.13. Workday had a return on equity of 5.34% and a net margin of 19.59%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Workday will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Workday in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Workday from $286.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Workday from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Workday from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Workday has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Workday news, Director Wayne A.I. Frederick sold 1,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total transaction of $442,101.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,097,806.90. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Richard Harry Sauer sold 3,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.78, for a total value of $738,934.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 85,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,228,745.10. The trade was a 3.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 359,954 shares of company stock valued at $88,742,132. Company insiders own 20.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Workday

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Workday by 79.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,302,008 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $514,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,394 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Workday by 17,345.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 930,701 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $208,068,000 after purchasing an additional 925,366 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Workday by 1,094.2% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 613,800 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $150,019,000 after purchasing an additional 562,400 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Workday by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,985,131 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,218,415,000 after buying an additional 480,459 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Workday in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,003,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

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.