Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at BTIG Research

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) was upgraded by investment analysts at BTIG Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Guidewire Software from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price (up from $255.00) on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Guidewire Software from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $246.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $242.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guidewire Software currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $271.29.

Guidewire Software Stock Up 0.1%

GWRE opened at $193.85 on Tuesday. Guidewire Software has a 1 year low of $165.08 and a 1 year high of $272.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The company has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 184.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.08.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The technology company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.66. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 7.23% and a return on equity of 10.15%. The company had revenue of $332.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Guidewire Software’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 6,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.08, for a total value of $1,155,361.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 240,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,241,915.44. This represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider James Winston King sold 798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.54, for a total transaction of $177,586.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 37,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,238,208.26. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 49,719 shares of company stock worth $10,538,481 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guidewire Software

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Linonia Partnership LP increased its stake in Guidewire Software by 41.8% during the 1st quarter. Linonia Partnership LP now owns 3,396,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $636,333,000 after buying an additional 1,000,709 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,100,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the second quarter valued at approximately $954,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 47.9% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,931 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $21,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,568 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Guidewire Software during the second quarter worth approximately $3,295,000.

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.