Boston Trust Walden Corp Acquires 163,543 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 40.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 564,030 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 163,543 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $93,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Oracle by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its position in shares of Oracle by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Piper Sandler increased 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $169.91 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $171.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.58. The firm has a market cap of $475.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.