Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stake Raised by Certuity LLC

Certuity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,811 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,753 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in Oracle by 21.9% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $177.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $170.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.97. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $495.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.32, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.