Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $300.00 target price on the software maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 115.66% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WDAY. Robert W. Baird set a $195.00 price target on Workday in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Workday from $285.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Workday from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Workday in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 price target on shares of Workday in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Workday currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.19.

Workday Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of Workday stock opened at $139.11 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.59 billion, a PE ratio of 53.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.13. Workday has a 52-week low of $117.76 and a 52-week high of $276.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The software maker reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.15. Workday had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Workday will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder David A. Duffield sold 82,884 shares of Workday stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.75, for a total transaction of $17,384,919.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,034,027.75. The trade was a 44.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total value of $1,252,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 159,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,224,232.50. This trade represents a 3.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 370,321 shares of company stock worth $78,866,401 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Workday

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Workday by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 8,316 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Workday by 840.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 765,049 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $164,317,000 after buying an additional 683,741 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Workday in the 4th quarter worth $2,518,000. Compound Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Workday by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 2,818 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Workday by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,552,061 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $548,132,000 after acquiring an additional 166,564 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.81% of the company’s stock.

Workday News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Workday this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat — Workday reported stronger-than-expected Q4 revenue and EPS with subscription growth and margin expansion, a fundamental positive that supports long‑term revenue/unit economics. Workday Q4 Earnings Beat (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Selective analyst support remains — Several firms (Needham, Guggenheim and others) continue Buy/Outperform calls with high price targets, underwriting upside if execution and guidance normalize. Needham Buy Rating (American Banking News)
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships and product moves — New offerings such as the Insperity HRScale rollout expand SMB reach but are not game‑changing near term. Insperity HRScale (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Weak FY27 subscription guidance — Management’s below‑consensus subscription revenue outlook and comments on longer deal timelines triggered the selloff and renewed AI‑disruption concerns. Workday tumbles on dour outlook (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread analyst price‑target cuts and downgrades — A cluster of PT reductions (UBS, Piper Sandler, DA Davidson, Goldman and others) has amplified selling pressure and market uncertainty. Analysts cut forecasts (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest jumped (~34% month over month) — Rising short activity adds downward pressure and increases volatility risk until sentiment stabilizes.
• Negative Sentiment: Public skepticism and investor headlines — High‑profile critics (including Jim Cramer) questioning Workday’s transition and AI positioning have contributed to negative sentiment. Jim Cramer comments (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Recent firm‑level downgrades (Citigroup, UBS, Piper Sandler) — New cuts to price targets and neutral/hold stances (including a Citigroup PT reset to $148) sustain selling momentum. Analyst PT changes (Benzinga)

About Workday

Workday, Inc (NASDAQ: WDAY) is a provider of cloud-based enterprise applications focused on human capital management (HCM) and financial management. Founded in 2005 by Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri following their tenure at PeopleSoft, the company develops software-as-a-service solutions that help organizations manage workforce and financial processes in a unified, cloud-native environment. Workday’s platform emphasizes continuous updates, data security, and a configurable architecture aimed at large and mid-sized enterprises.

The company’s product portfolio centers on Workday Human Capital Management and Workday Financial Management, with additional offerings for payroll, talent management, workforce planning and analytics.