Oak Ridge Investments LLC Invests $235,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,665 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Contour Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after purchasing an additional 643,490 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in shares of Oracle by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,089,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory lifted its position in Oracle by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 5,236 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goelzer Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 25.0% in the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Oracle news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock valued at $266,776,624. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.83.

Oracle Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL traded up $0.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $136.53. 2,294,586 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,295,791. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.26 billion, a PE ratio of 36.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $146.59.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.57 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.