MFA Wealth Services Acquires New Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

MFA Wealth Services acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $788,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in Oracle by 2,899.0% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 913,700 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $155,694,000 after purchasing an additional 883,233 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ORCL shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $186.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $520.44 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $162.05. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

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.