Alta Capital Management LLC Buys 5,298 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Alta Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 44.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,327 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,298 shares during the quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,998,798,000 after acquiring an additional 97,635 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ORCL shares. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $161.91 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $168.79 and its 200 day moving average is $169.01. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.36 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $452.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.59, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Profile

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.