Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,039 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $4,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $169.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.26. The stock has a market cap of $475.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.54, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Mizuho raised their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

About Oracle

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.