Waddell & Associates LLC Boosts Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Waddell & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,525 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,319,604,000 after purchasing an additional 82,551 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,539,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,342 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,300,941,000 after purchasing an additional 697,961 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624 in the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Oracle from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.87.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded down $0.80 on Friday, hitting $141.81. 11,154,796 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,056,655. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $390.81 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $146.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $138.72 and its 200 day moving average is $128.47.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Oracle Company 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.