Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) by 426.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,369 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 47,280 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Guidewire Software worth $9,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hudson Way Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 54.2% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Way Capital Management LLC now owns 325,054 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,798,000 after buying an additional 114,278 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Guidewire Software by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 16,144 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,406 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in Guidewire Software by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 46,565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,850,000 after purchasing an additional 14,042 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Guidewire Software by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 8,419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its position in Guidewire Software by 176.0% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 287 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael C. Keller sold 1,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.03, for a total transaction of $341,935.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,270,318.10. The trade was a 13.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.36, for a total transaction of $291,704.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,713,621.48. This represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,371 shares of company stock valued at $6,207,005. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GWRE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $228.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.08.

Guidewire Software Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Guidewire Software stock opened at $213.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.65 and a 1 year high of $219.59. The company has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 593.42, a P/E/G ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $191.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.70.

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

Guidewire Software Profile

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.