KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Boosts Stake in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 609,922 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for about 0.7% of KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Oracle were worth $171,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 164,278,874 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,916,290,000 after buying an additional 3,353,461 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,459,391 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $16,060,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,723 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,275,378,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Oracle by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,315,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,473,838,000 after acquiring an additional 147,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of Oracle by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 11,182,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,444,896,000 after purchasing an additional 405,525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support for Oracle’s cloud/data-center story remains — Evercore ISI reaffirmed an Outperform rating and a $275 price target, citing large multi-year data-center leases and multicloud AI solutions that boost recurring revenue visibility. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle is part of the expected U.S. TikTok JV (with ByteDance, Silver Lake and MGX), a strategic deal that could bring near-term cash/partnership benefits and raise Oracle’s profile in consumer-facing tech investments. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite volatility, some investors see a second-half cloud/AI ramp — MarketBeat’s sector write-up highlights Oracle’s backlog and potential for cloud infrastructure momentum once new data centers come online. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly results were mixed: EPS beat expectations but revenue slightly missed consensus, and management emphasized backlog and contract wins that may not convert to revenue until capacity is available. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution and lower targets: RBC trimmed its price target to $195 (from $250) and kept a Sector Perform rating, signaling reduced near-term upside and prompting some selling. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Debt- and capex-related risks: multiple pieces highlight Oracle’s large AI/data-center build (reported ~$50B capex plan) that is driving strong backlog and revenue growth but producing negative free cash flow and higher leverage — a key near-term investor concern. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Technicals and momentum pressure: Oracle recently formed a “death cross” (50-day MA below 200-day MA), which can accelerate short-term outflows from momentum-driven funds and traders. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.64, for a total value of $11,065,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,030 shares in the company, valued at $42,610,859.20. This trade represents a 20.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 234,077 shares in the company, valued at $46,087,420.53. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 126,588 shares of company stock worth $33,155,596 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Oracle from $246.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.94.

Oracle Trading Down 1.7%

Oracle stock opened at $189.58 on Friday. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $345.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $544.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $209.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.96.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.The business had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops and sells database software, cloud engineered systems, enterprise software applications and related services. The company is widely known for its flagship Oracle Database and a portfolio of enterprise-grade software products that support data management, application development, analytics and middleware. Over recent years Oracle has expanded its focus to include cloud infrastructure and cloud applications, positioning itself as a provider of both platform and software-as-a-service solutions for large organizations.

Oracle’s product and service offerings include Oracle Database and the Autonomous Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM) and supply chain management (SCM) cloud applications (often grouped under Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications), middleware such as WebLogic, and developer technologies including Java and MySQL.