Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Bought by Kowal Investment Group LLC

Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 13.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,954 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 15.3% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Oracle by 55.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,315 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,151,000 after buying an additional 7,982 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 7.5% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 126,123 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $21,491,000 after buying an additional 8,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 91.7% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,771 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 6,587 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Up 0.4 %

Oracle stock opened at $174.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $481.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $178.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $154.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.88.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be 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 is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.