Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,665,576 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 434,458 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for about 0.6% of Sei Investments Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.10% of Oracle worth $444,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $930,095,000. Polen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Oracle by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,787,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,764 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Oracle by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,012,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,609 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Oracle in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price target on Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $152.83 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $164.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.85. 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 company has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.