Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC Buys 145 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,770 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $27,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Lynx Investment Advisory raised its holdings in Oracle by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 2,387 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the period. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 3,099 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 11,124 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 432,522 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $72,075,000 after acquiring an additional 10,711 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 36,941 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $152.83 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $164.87 and a 200 day moving average of $170.27. The company has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

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 stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.