Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 8,278 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 170,461 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,278 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $29,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in Oracle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ORCL shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a 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 target price of $168.67.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $174.72 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $178.61. The company has a market cap of $484.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.03, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

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.