Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Purchases 640 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,844 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for 1.9% of Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $5,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE ORCL traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $158.86. The stock had a trading volume of 713,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,430,102. The company has a market capitalization of $444.33 billion, a PE ratio of 38.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $105.68 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $176.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.48.

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.