Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 544 Shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,825 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Guidewire Software were worth $717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Guidewire Software by 16.2% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,157,195 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $966,252,000 after purchasing an additional 720,322 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Guidewire Software during the first quarter worth about $85,453,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Guidewire Software by 242.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 555,892 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,683,000 after purchasing an additional 393,445 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Guidewire Software by 877.7% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Guidewire Software by 27,342.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 260,430 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $487,940,000 after purchasing an additional 259,481 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GWRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $220.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $225.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guidewire Software presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.92.

Guidewire Software Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of GWRE opened at $207.75 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $232.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.52. The company has a market capitalization of $17.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 519.36, a P/E/G ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.94 and a 1-year high of $263.20.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $293.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $286.40 million. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 3.04% and a return on equity of 6.96%. Guidewire Software’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guidewire Software

In other news, President John P. Mullen sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.28, for a total value of $669,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 143,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,038,223.92. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider James Winston King sold 2,482 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.65, for a total transaction of $547,653.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 37,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,261,356.65. The trade was a 6.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,742 shares of company stock valued at $5,870,207 over the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.