Lbp Am Sa Raises Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Lbp Am Sa boosted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 362,136 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 65,513 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for approximately 0.8% of Lbp Am Sa’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Oracle were worth $60,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $27,428,000 after purchasing an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Performance

Oracle stock opened at $147.41 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $166.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.34. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $412.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were 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 $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Company 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.