Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 13,468 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 313.4% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 1,766,621 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $186,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,311 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 26,602.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,259,550 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $132,794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Oracle by 35.2% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,168,969 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $331,221,000 after purchasing an additional 825,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,294.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 0.7 %

ORCL stock traded up $0.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.80. The company had a trading volume of 4,484,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,128,065. The business has a 50-day moving average of $119.91 and a 200-day moving average of $113.32. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $94.41 and a one year high of $132.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The stock has a market cap of $318.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

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.