Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 296,866 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 296,866 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.48% of Oracle worth $1,869,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brio Consultants LLC raised its position in Oracle by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 2,942 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $359,000. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $290,000. Finally, 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,285 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $9,519,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Oracle news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 over the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $168.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $173.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $465.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.13.

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.