Colonial River Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 4,600 Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Colonial River Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,600 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $167.92 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.06, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $109.66 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

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.