Plato Investment Management Ltd Grows Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,335 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $6,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after buying an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 19,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,341,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 44,416 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $7,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $166.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $168.93 and a 200 day moving average of $168.83. The firm has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Oracle 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.