Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by SJS Investment Consulting Inc.

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,573 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at about $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after acquiring an additional 126,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 863,883 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $147,206,000 after acquiring an additional 395,613 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Oracle in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Down 1.5 %

ORCL stock opened at $183.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.49. The stock has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 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.