Empowered Funds LLC Has $15.27 Million Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 91,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,592 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $15,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 279.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after buying an additional 891,842 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL opened at $174.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $170.42 and a 200 day moving average of $164.35.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.