WINTON GROUP Ltd Boosts Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 43.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,514 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,993 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $145.88 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.11. The company has a market cap of $408.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released 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 business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.