Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys New Shares in Guidewire Software, Inc. $GWRE

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,696 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Comerica Bank lifted its position in shares of Guidewire Software by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 78,659 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,811,000 after acquiring an additional 26,912 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in shares of Guidewire Software during the fourth quarter worth about $1,803,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Guidewire Software by 8.9% during 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 period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its stake in Guidewire Software by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 524,818 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $78,492,000 after purchasing an additional 15,260 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Guidewire Software by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 225,389 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,305,000 after purchasing an additional 74,432 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Guidewire Software

In other Guidewire Software news, CFO Jeffrey Elliott Cooper sold 1,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.67, for a total transaction of $142,443.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,119 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,114.73. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James Winston King sold 1,684 shares of Guidewire Software stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.64, for a total transaction of $219,997.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,921,551.52. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 31,393 shares of company stock valued at $3,960,558 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Guidewire Software Stock Performance

NYSE:GWRE opened at $149.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 2.44. Guidewire Software, Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.30 and a 1 year high of $272.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.78. The company has a market cap of $12.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.04 and a beta of 0.95.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.08. Guidewire Software had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 11.25%.The firm had revenue of $372.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $355.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Guidewire Software, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on GWRE shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $300.00 to $220.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $250.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $255.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Guidewire Software from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.42.

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.