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

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 43.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,514 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring 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 reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,998,798,000 after purchasing an additional 97,635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.20.

Oracle Price Performance

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

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio 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.