Sepio Capital LP Raises Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sepio Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,882 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Oracle were worth $7,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,216,314,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $930,095,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,787,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.65.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at $5,049,400.30. This trade represents a 5.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Down 6.6 %

ORCL stock opened at $128.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

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.