Meridian Financial Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 1,353 Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,353 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 148.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 97.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 0.5 %

ORCL opened at $174.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $484.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.03, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $178.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $156.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.49.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a 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 $168.67.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.