Invesco Ltd. Boosts Position in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Guidewire Software, Inc. by 70.4% in the first quarter, owning approximately 1.70% of the company, valued at $267.38 million after acquiring an additional 589,424 shares.
• Several institutional investors have also significantly boosted their positions in Guidewire Software, including SBI Securities, which increased its stake by 403.8%.
• Guidewire Software reported earnings per share of $0.88 for the recent quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.41, with revenue rising 22% year-over-year.

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE - Free Report) by 70.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,427,104 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 589,424 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.70% of Guidewire Software worth $267,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Guidewire Software by 148.1% during the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,724 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Guidewire Software during the first quarter valued at approximately $692,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Guidewire Software during the first quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guidewire Software by 3,320.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 192,843 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,131,000 after buying an additional 187,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Guidewire Software during the first quarter valued at approximately $211,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $199.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $225.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Guidewire Software has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $250.92.

Guidewire Software Price Performance

GWRE stock traded up $2.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $211.64. 666,784 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 594,280. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.94 and a 52 week high of $263.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 3.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 529.10, a P/E/G ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 1.16.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.41. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 3.04% and a return on equity of 6.96%. The business had revenue of $293.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $286.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Guidewire Software's quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guidewire Software

In other news, President John P. Mullen sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.28, for a total value of $669,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 143,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,038,223.92. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider James Winston King sold 2,482 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.65, for a total transaction of $547,653.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 37,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,261,356.65. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,742 shares of company stock worth $5,870,207. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Guidewire Software 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.