Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Makes New Investment in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 319,200 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,191,000. Oracle comprises approximately 1.1% of Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC raised its position in Oracle by 0.4% during the third quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 17,626 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock opened at $183.59 on Monday. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.64. 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 capitalization of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders 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 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.