GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Boosts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA raised its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 52.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,767 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,087 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $930,095,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% in 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 buying an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Oracle by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,012,943,000 after buying an additional 1,623,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $161,069,000 after buying an additional 941,819 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $149.36 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.85. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week 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 company has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

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.