Plancorp LLC Purchases 987 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Plancorp LLC lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,861 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 987 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vestor Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 130,227 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $21,701,000 after buying an additional 40,676 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 152,328 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,384,000 after purchasing an additional 48,680 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth about $309,000. Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth about $2,386,000. Finally, ZEGA Investments LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth about $1,061,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $152.83 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.