Share Repurchase Plan Initiated by Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) Board of Directors

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, January 8th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on GWRE shares. Zacks Research downgraded Guidewire Software from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. DA Davidson upgraded Guidewire Software from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $246.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Guidewire Software from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Guidewire Software in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $242.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.50.

Guidewire Software Stock Performance

Shares of GWRE stock opened at $180.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 172.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.08. Guidewire Software has a 52 week low of $165.08 and a 52 week high of $272.60. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $207.89 and a 200-day moving average of $223.12.

Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The technology company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.66. Guidewire Software had a net margin of 7.23% and a return on equity of 10.15%. The firm had revenue of $332.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Guidewire Software will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President John P. Mullen sold 7,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.08, for a total transaction of $1,531,838.00. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 141,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,272,094.64. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jeffrey Elliott Cooper sold 1,232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total transaction of $240,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 72,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,228,955. This trade represents a 1.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 52,740 shares of company stock worth $10,859,052 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Guidewire Software

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.