Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Invests $4.92 Million in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,500 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,916,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $930,095,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 3,805.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 966,571 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $161,069,000 after buying an additional 941,819 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 279.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after purchasing an additional 891,842 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ORCL. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 3.3 %

ORCL stock opened at $155.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.10. The company has a market cap of $436.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $111.18 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

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.