Guidewire Software’s (GWRE) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Guidewire Software from $210.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $231.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Guidewire Software from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.08.

Guidewire Software Stock Performance

Shares of GWRE opened at $173.72 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Guidewire Software has a 52 week low of $107.00 and a 52 week high of $219.59. The stock has a market cap of $14.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 482.56, a PEG ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 1.31.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The technology company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.44). Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 2.38% and a net margin of 2.91%. The firm had revenue of $289.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $285.74 million. On average, analysts expect that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Guidewire Software

In other Guidewire Software news, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 5,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $1,014,727.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 281,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,192,733.80. The trade was a 2.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President John P. Mullen sold 7,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $1,225,644.90. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 182,096 shares in the company, valued at $31,149,341.76. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,656 shares of company stock valued at $7,856,836 over the last ninety days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guidewire Software

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GWRE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Guidewire Software by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,436,873 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $747,968,000 after buying an additional 1,009,966 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 946,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,503,000 after acquiring an additional 418,642 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Guidewire Software by 242.2% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 555,892 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $93,683,000 after purchasing an additional 393,445 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,118,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Guidewire Software by 877.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 367,445 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,944,000 after purchasing an additional 329,863 shares during the last quarter.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire Software, Inc provides a platform for property and casualty (P&C) insurers worldwide. The company offers Guidewire InsuranceSuite Cloud, such as PolicyCenter Cloud, BillingCenter Cloud, and ClaimCenter Cloud applications. It also provides Guidewire InsuranceNow, a cloud-based platform that offers policy, billing, and claims management functionality to insurers; and Guidewire InsuranceSuite for Self-Managed.