Avanza Fonder AB Takes $20.35 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 122,098 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,346,000. Oracle makes up about 0.6% of Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after buying an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL opened at $162.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $455.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.51, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $176.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.22. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

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.