Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $175.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Friday, September 4th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $222.00 price objective on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Guidewire Software presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $213.29.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GWRE opened at $158.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Guidewire Software has a 1 year low of $102.30 and a 1 year high of $229.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.29. The firm has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.04 and a beta of 1.01.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The technology company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.06. Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.44%. The firm had revenue of $411.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $402.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Guidewire Software will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Guidewire Software news, CAO David Peterson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,787 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,400. This trade represents a 20.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James King sold 11,814 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.47, for a total value of $1,706,768.58. Following the transaction, the insider owned 45,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,636,807.33. This trade represents a 20.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 209,135 shares of company stock valued at $31,764,329. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Guidewire Software during the third quarter valued at approximately $474,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,142,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,493,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 5.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 622,937 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $88,818,000 after buying an additional 29,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 141.2% in the third quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 18,571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,648,000 after buying an additional 10,871 shares during the last quarter.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire Software develops software for property and casualty insurance companies. Its products support core insurance operations, including policy administration, billing and claims management, as well as data analytics and digital customer services. The company offers its applications through Guidewire Cloud and provides related implementation and support services. Its platform includes products such as PolicyCenter, BillingCenter and ClaimCenter, designed to help insurers manage workflows and modernize their technology systems.