Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Has $5.76 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,551 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $5,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $1,800,000. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth $4,160,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Up 1.3 %

ORCL stock opened at $174.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $488.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $170.42 and its 200-day moving average is $164.35.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. 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.