Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Guidewire Software, Inc. $GWRE

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 24,700 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,694,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Guidewire Software by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,201 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $357,504,000 after purchasing an additional 145,924 shares during the last quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 1,445,206 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $290,501,000 after buying an additional 405,850 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guidewire Software by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,316,817 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $264,693,000 after buying an additional 45,289 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Guidewire Software in the 4th quarter valued at $202,405,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 982,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $225,894,000 after acquiring an additional 251,280 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Guidewire Software

In related news, CEO Michael George Rosenbaum sold 5,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.74, for a total value of $692,254.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 199,776 shares in the company, valued at $23,721,402.24. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, President John P. Mullen sold 4,292 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.74, for a total transaction of $509,632.08. Following the sale, the president directly owned 131,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,568,595.10. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 29,709 shares of company stock worth $3,740,332 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Guidewire Software Stock Performance

NYSE GWRE opened at $121.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.46 and a beta of 0.93. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.30 and a twelve month high of $272.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.08. Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 11.25%.The business had revenue of $372.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.92 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Guidewire Software’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Guidewire Software from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Guidewire Software from $246.00 to $222.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Guidewire Software from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their price objective on Guidewire Software from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Guidewire Software has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.36.

Guidewire Software Profile

Guidewire Software, Inc develops software products and cloud services for property and casualty (P&C) insurance carriers. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, the company’s offerings are designed to help insurers manage the core functions of their business—policy administration, billing and claims—while supporting digital engagement, analytics and operational modernization.

Guidewire’s core product portfolio is commonly known as the InsuranceSuite, which includes PolicyCenter for policy administration, BillingCenter for billing and receivables, and ClaimCenter for claims management.