Guidewire Software Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GWRE)

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 1,297 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,563% compared to the typical daily volume of 78 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Guidewire Software from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $250.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Guidewire Software presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.31.

Guidewire Software Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE GWRE opened at $235.83 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.66. The stock has a market cap of $19.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 589.58, a P/E/G ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 1.15. Guidewire Software has a 12-month low of $132.01 and a 12-month high of $263.20. The company has a current ratio of 3.23, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $293.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $286.40 million. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 3.04% and a return on equity of 6.96%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Guidewire Software

In other news, Director Michael C. Keller sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.53, for a total transaction of $237,530.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,687.30. This trade represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.82, for a total transaction of $234,948.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 258,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,397,077.26. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,160 shares of company stock valued at $3,779,767. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GWRE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 29.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,009,966 shares during the last quarter. Linonia Partnership LP raised its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 41.8% during the first quarter. Linonia Partnership LP now owns 3,396,310 shares of the technology company's stock worth $636,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,709 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 70.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,427,104 shares of the technology company's stock worth $267,382,000 after purchasing an additional 589,424 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Guidewire Software during the first quarter worth $85,453,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings 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 valued at $159,503,000 after buying an additional 418,642 shares in the last quarter.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.