Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 14,241 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,763 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,241 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $12,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd 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. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $172.37 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $109.79 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $482.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors 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 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.