Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE)

Equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $175.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.34% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GWRE. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, September 4th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Guidewire Software from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.29.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

NYSE:GWRE opened at $155.78 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. The company has a market capitalization of $12.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.57 and a beta of 1.01. Guidewire Software has a 12 month low of $102.30 and a 12 month high of $229.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $162.35 and its 200 day moving average is $149.30.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The technology company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $411.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $402.61 million. Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 9.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Guidewire Software will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guidewire Software news, insider James King sold 9,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $1,543,416.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 35,371 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,328. This represents a 20.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President John Mullen sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.19, for a total value of $336,942.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 176,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,029,113.93. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 209,135 shares of company stock valued at $31,764,329 over the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guidewire Software

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guidewire Software in the third quarter valued at $1,142,000. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guidewire Software during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,493,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Guidewire Software by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 622,937 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $88,818,000 after purchasing an additional 29,483 shares during the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in Guidewire Software by 141.2% during the 3rd quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 18,571 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after purchasing an additional 10,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in Guidewire Software during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000.

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.