Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Purchases 15,456 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 134,596 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,456 shares during the period. Oracle makes up about 2.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $22,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 13.8% during the first quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 9,018 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Oracle by 91.7% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,771 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 6,587 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $396,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Oracle by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,329 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ORCL. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Down 1.8 %

Oracle stock opened at $183.74 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $191.77. The stock has a market cap of $509.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.36, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $172.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.24%.

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.