Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Has $7.33 Million Stock Position in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lowered its position in shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,487 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,777 shares during the quarter. Guidewire Software makes up approximately 1.3% of Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Guidewire Software worth $7,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Guidewire Software by 537.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000.

Guidewire Software Stock Down 7.1 %

Guidewire Software stock opened at $173.72 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.83. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $107.00 and a fifty-two week high of $219.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 482.56, a PEG ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last announced 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%. The company had revenue of $289.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $285.74 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guidewire Software

In other news, President John P. Mullen sold 7,165 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $1,225,644.90. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 182,096 shares in the company, valued at $31,149,341.76. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider James Winston King sold 1,509 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $258,129.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,728 shares in the company, valued at $7,993,291.68. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,656 shares of company stock valued at $7,856,836. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GWRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $231.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.08.

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.