Maple Capital Management Inc. Buys 615 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Maple Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,108 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 3,805.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 966,571 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $161,069,000 after purchasing an additional 941,819 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 279.7% in the fourth 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 increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $168.93 and a 200 day moving average of $168.36. The firm has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its 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). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently 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.