Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $31.24 Million Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 509.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,462 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 156,691 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $31,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 201.7% in the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $1,800,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $161.91 on Tuesday. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $110.36 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $452.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.01.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

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.