Main Street Research LLC Raises Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Main Street Research LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 189,851 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $20,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $1,409,896,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 112,785.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,832,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $885,451,000 after acquiring an additional 10,822,934 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after purchasing an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Oracle by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,502,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,675,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,080 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Trading Up 1.3 %

ORCL traded up $1.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,001,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,610,772. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77. The stock has a market cap of $333.64 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $119.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

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.