Equitable Trust Co. Acquires 16,376 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 84.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,665 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,376 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $5,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 279.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $174.53 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $488.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.50. 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 $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Oracle in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.