Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,876 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 89.7% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Oracle

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

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $174.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $486.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.29. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.