River Global Investors LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

River Global Investors LLP raised its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,504 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 148.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 97.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.52.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 1.5 %

ORCL stock traded up $2.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $189.25. 8,520,419 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,643,102. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $190.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.10. The company has a market cap of $524.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

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.