Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Acquires 6,175 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,718 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,175 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $6,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after purchasing an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at $1,800,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price target on shares of Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $149.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $418.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $165.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.01. 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 $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by 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.