Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) Stock: Insider Mark Garfield Sells 918 Shares

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) CAO Mark Garfield sold 918 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.45, for a total value of $173,915.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 69,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,130,590.05. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Workday Price Performance

WDAY opened at $196.63 on Friday. Workday, Inc. has a one year low of $110.36 and a one year high of $247.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 27th. The software maker reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. Workday had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Workday, Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WDAY. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Workday from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Workday from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. KeyCorp cut shares of Workday from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Workday from $216.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $205.03.

Key Stories Impacting Workday

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG said Workday’s “agentic AI” push should benefit from an impressive investor day. New offerings—including expanded Sana capabilities, Decision Intelligence, Work Intelligence and a Trusted Agent Platform—could strengthen customer retention and create additional monetization opportunities. BTIG Workday investor-day analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Workday’s collaboration with Anthropic will connect Claude’s reasoning capabilities with Workday’s Sana agents, governed data and business rules. The arrangement could improve Workday’s competitive position in enterprise AI by enabling users to find information, take actions and approve work through either platform. Workday Anthropic partnership
• Positive Sentiment: A new Candidate Profile feature lets applicants save information for reuse across Workday-powered applications, potentially improving the recruiting experience and increasing the platform’s value to employers. Workday Candidate Profile announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinions remain divided. Stifel raised its price target from $160 to $175 but maintained a Hold rating, while UBS lowered its target from $220 to $210 and kept a Neutral rating. Both targets indicate limited conviction at current valuation levels. Stifel Workday price target
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that sales growth is decelerating. Management continues to forecast double-digit revenue growth, but the market wants evidence that AI investments will translate into stronger bookings and financial results. Workday growth outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder David Duffield sold approximately $18.7 million of Workday stock, and Chief Accounting Officer Mark Garfield sold about $174,000. Both transactions were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their signaling value, though the sales may still weigh on sentiment. Workday insider sales

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDAY. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Workday by 25,412.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 10,230,616 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,197,332,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190,516 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Workday by 101.4% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,017,905 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,077,537,000 after buying an additional 2,525,821 shares in the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Workday during the fourth quarter worth about $184,083,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Workday by 840.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 765,049 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $164,317,000 after buying an additional 683,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lead Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Workday in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $79,988,000. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

About Workday

Workday, Inc develops cloud-based enterprise software for managing an organization’s people, finances and operations. Its platform is primarily used by businesses, government agencies and educational institutions to support human resources, finance, planning, analytics and related administrative processes.

The company’s offerings include Workday Human Capital Management, Financial Management, Adaptive Planning, Spend Management, payroll, recruiting, talent management, learning and workforce analytics.