Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Has $1.36 Million Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 65.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,979 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,158 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 148.8% during the first 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. boosted its position in Oracle by 131.2% during the second 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 increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 97.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% during 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 buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in 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 valued at $219,224,000 after buying an additional 1,526,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.52.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $187.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $518.41 billion, a PE ratio of 48.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $191.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $170.41 and a 200-day moving average of $145.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 41.24%.

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.