Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,123 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 3.1% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 73,791 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,105,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.9% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,467 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 29.2% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 588,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $48,686,000 after purchasing an additional 132,920 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 79.6% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,854 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 125.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $116.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,895,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,505,669. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.80. The stock has a market cap of $319.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $93.29 and a 52-week high of $132.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

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.