Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 45.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,160 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,741 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $7,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $161.05 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.21. The company has a market cap of $450.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.