Guidewire Software Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:GWRE)

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 1,297 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,563% compared to the average volume of 78 call options.

Insider Transactions at Guidewire Software

In other Guidewire Software news, President John P. Mullen sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.13, for a total transaction of $467,199.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 172,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,028,955.98. This represents a 1.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 5,932 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $1,014,727.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 281,730 shares in the company, valued at $48,192,733.80. This represents a 2.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,656 shares of company stock valued at $7,856,836 over the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guidewire Software

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Guidewire Software by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,436,873 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $747,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,966 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Guidewire Software by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 946,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,503,000 after purchasing an additional 418,642 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of 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. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,118,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Guidewire Software by 877.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 367,445 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,944,000 after purchasing an additional 329,863 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $231.00 price objective on shares of Guidewire Software in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Guidewire Software has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.50.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

NYSE:GWRE opened at $186.54 on Friday. Guidewire Software has a 12-month low of $107.00 and a 12-month high of $219.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 518.17, a P/E/G ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $194.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The technology company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.44). Guidewire Software had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 2.38%. On average, analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Guidewire Software Company 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.