Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 2,140 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,847 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,140 shares during the quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third 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 buying an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after buying an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This 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 at this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $178.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $500.58 billion, a PE ratio of 43.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price target for the company. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.