Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE)

Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 1,297 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,563% compared to the average daily volume of 78 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 5,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $1,014,727.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 281,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192,733.80. This represents a 2.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider James Winston King sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.78, for a total value of $47,190.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 45,664 shares in the company, valued at $7,981,153.92. The trade was a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,656 shares of company stock worth $7,856,836 in the last quarter. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guidewire Software

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,688 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Guidewire Software during the 4th quarter worth $2,110,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Guidewire Software by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,984 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,095,000 after buying an additional 2,512 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Guidewire Software by 618.5% during the 4th quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 18,752 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,161,000 after buying an additional 16,142 shares during the period. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Guidewire Software by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 972,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,954,000 after buying an additional 31,512 shares during the last quarter.

Guidewire Software Trading Down 5.5 %

NYSE GWRE opened at $186.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 518.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 37.21 and a beta of 1.25. Guidewire Software has a twelve month low of $107.00 and a twelve month high of $219.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $194.39 and its 200 day moving average is $184.38.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The technology company reported $0.08 EPS 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GWRE. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $231.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Guidewire Software from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Guidewire Software from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.50.

Guidewire Software Company 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.