Holderness Investments Co. Boosts Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Holderness Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,081 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up approximately 1.8% of Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $8,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Oracle in a report on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 price objective on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Up 2.0 %

Oracle stock opened at $152.40 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $426.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.26, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.95%.

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.