Valmark Advisers Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,584 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 279.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after purchasing an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Down 0.2 %

ORCL opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.99. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $106.51 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $485.27 billion, a PE ratio of 42.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.