Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Shares of Dayforce, Inc. (NYSE:DAY) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 3,997,811 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 74% from the previous session’s volume of 2,300,784 shares.The stock last traded at $69.0330 and had previously closed at $68.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Dayforce from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Dayforce from a “strong sell” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Dayforce from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho set a $70.00 price objective on Dayforce in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Dayforce from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.36.

Dayforce Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of -73.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.74.

Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $481.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $481.22 million. Dayforce had a negative net margin of 7.91% and a positive return on equity of 6.54%. Dayforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dayforce, Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Stephen H. Holdridge sold 2,000 shares of Dayforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total value of $137,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 186,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,880,618.45. The trade was a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Price T. Rowe Associates Inc /M sold 39,558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.45, for a total value of $2,707,745.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 24,753,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,371,462.10. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 76,179 shares of company stock valued at $5,219,460. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dayforce

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Dayforce by 82.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 431 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in Dayforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Dayforce in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dayforce in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Dayforce by 74.5% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period.

About Dayforce

Dayforce Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a human capital management (HCM) software company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers Dayforce, a cloud HCM platform that provides human resources, payroll and tax, workforce management, wallet, benefits, and talent intelligence functionalities; and Powerpay, a cloud HR and payroll solution for the small business market.