3,000 Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Bought by Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC

Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,000 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $500,000. Oracle makes up about 0.4% of Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 279.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 0.9 %

ORCL opened at $168.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $471.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $171.89 and its 200-day moving average is $163.58. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.51 and a 52-week high of $198.31. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

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.