Legal & General Group Plc Sells 26,274 Shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. $GWRE

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 137,247 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26,274 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Guidewire Software were worth $27,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in Guidewire Software by 901.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 9,110 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 8,200 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the fourth quarter worth $1,803,000. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Guidewire Software by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 78,659 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,811,000 after purchasing an additional 26,912 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 520,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $119,617,000 after purchasing an additional 17,104 shares during the period. Finally, Fieldview Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guidewire Software during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,862,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President John P. Mullen sold 6,576 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.86, for a total transaction of $1,077,543.36. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 135,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,187,791.02. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Elliott Cooper sold 4,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.72, for a total value of $755,031.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 67,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,792,325.12. This represents a 6.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 32,479 shares of company stock valued at $5,024,174 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GWRE opened at $152.40 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $162.76. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.57 and a twelve month high of $272.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.27 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.93, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $359.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.88 million. Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 13.44% and a net margin of 14.11%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GWRE. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Guidewire Software from $250.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Guidewire Software from $300.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $246.00 price objective on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Guidewire Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.46.

Guidewire Software Profile

Guidewire Software, Inc develops software products and cloud services for property and casualty (P&C) insurance carriers. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, the company’s offerings are designed to help insurers manage the core functions of their business—policy administration, billing and claims—while supporting digital engagement, analytics and operational modernization.

Guidewire’s core product portfolio is commonly known as the InsuranceSuite, which includes PolicyCenter for policy administration, BillingCenter for billing and receivables, and ClaimCenter for claims management.