588,842 Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Acquired by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 588,842 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $100,339,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter worth about $1,584,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Oracle by 97.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after buying an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in shares of Oracle by 49.1% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 677 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,046,305 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $131,426,000 after acquiring an additional 20,106 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,278,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $160,609,000 after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $192.29 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.41. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $196.04. The company has a market cap of $532.85 billion, a PE ratio of 49.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ORCL. UBS Group reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Oracle Company 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.