Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) Short Interest Update

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,200,000 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the February 13th total of 3,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Guidewire Software

In other news, Director Michael C. Keller sold 1,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.03, for a total transaction of $341,935.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,270,318.10. This trade represents a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.68, for a total transaction of $300,552.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 274,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,979,036.40. This trade represents a 0.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,470 shares of company stock valued at $5,454,567. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Guidewire Software by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,436,873 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $747,968,000 after buying an additional 1,009,966 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Guidewire Software by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 946,158 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $159,503,000 after buying an additional 418,642 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Guidewire Software by 242.2% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 555,892 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,683,000 after buying an additional 393,445 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new stake in Guidewire Software in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,118,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Guidewire Software by 877.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 367,445 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,944,000 after buying an additional 329,863 shares in the last quarter.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

GWRE stock traded up $6.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.60. 500,955 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 860,044. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $196.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.71. Guidewire Software has a 52-week low of $107.00 and a 52-week high of $219.59. The company has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 549.89, a P/E/G 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 the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $285.74 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GWRE. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Guidewire Software from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $231.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Guidewire Software has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.