WASHINGTON TRUST Co Buys 156 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,972 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $1,409,896,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 112,785.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,832,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $885,451,000 after buying an additional 10,822,934 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Oracle by 9,299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $865,472,000 after buying an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Oracle by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,502,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,675,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,080 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $125.82. 2,853,162 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,151,238. The company has a market cap of $345.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $89.71 and a one year high of $132.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $116.00 and a 200 day moving average of $111.37.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Oracle 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.