Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by World Equity Group Inc.

World Equity Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 108.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,304 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,329 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 201.7% in the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after purchasing an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $1,800,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.66 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.29. The company has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.