Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Guidewire Software, with 12 buy ratings and four holds. The average 12-month price target is $216.23, well above the stock’s reported $140.87 opening price.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed: Robert W. Baird and Guggenheim raised their price targets, while JPMorgan and Stifel lowered theirs; Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating.
• Guidewire exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.99 in EPS versus a $0.93 consensus and $411.09 million in revenue versus $402.61 million expected. Revenue rose 15.3% year over year, although insiders sold 47,093 shares worth about $7.2 million over the past 90 days.

Shares of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $216.2308.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GWRE shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Guidewire Software from $202.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Guidewire Software from $300.00 to $258.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Guidewire Software from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th.

Insider Activity

In related news, President John Mullen sold 14,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $2,664,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 116,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,592,275. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Rosenbaum sold 1,200 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.52, for a total transaction of $192,624.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 185,376 shares in the company, valued at $29,756,555.52. This trade represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 47,093 shares of company stock worth $7,215,782 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GWRE. American Trust grew its position in Guidewire Software by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 1,632 shares of the technology company's stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 4,074 shares of the technology company's stock worth $936,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 1.6% during the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 5,180 shares of the technology company's stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Avory & Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Avory & Company LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the technology company's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Guidewire Software by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 247 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period.

Guidewire Software Stock Performance

GWRE opened at $140.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $162.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.08. Guidewire Software has a 52-week low of $102.30 and a 52-week high of $255.91.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The technology company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $411.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $402.61 million. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 12.66%. Guidewire Software's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guidewire Software Company Profile

Guidewire Software, Inc NYSE: GWRE provides cloud-based software and technology services for the property and casualty insurance industry. Its solutions help insurers manage core operations, modernize legacy systems, improve customer engagement and use data to support underwriting and claims decisions.

The company's principal platform, InsuranceSuite, includes applications such as PolicyCenter for policy administration, BillingCenter for billing and payments, and ClaimCenter for claims management.

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