Diametric Capital LP Acquires Shares of 1,467 Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Diametric Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,467 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 89.7% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 129.0% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ORCL. Mizuho upped their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.65.

Oracle Trading Up 1.6 %

ORCL opened at $142.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $162.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Company 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.