West Tower Group LLC Invests $250,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,500 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $930,095,000. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,787,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,764 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Oracle by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,012,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,609 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $149.48 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.01. 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 market cap of $418.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ORCL shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.71.

About Oracle

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.