12,353 Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Acquired by Chiron Investment Management LLC

Chiron Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,353 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,105,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Oracle by 2.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in Oracle by 5,853.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after buying an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Oracle by 123.7% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,645,920 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,978 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 459.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,235,859 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $174,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014,959 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Melius Research upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.48.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $177.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.67. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $492.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

About Oracle

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.