State of Michigan Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 436,832 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Oracle were worth $54,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $2,320,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,976. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 37,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.19, for a total value of $5,218,011.99. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $368,246,045.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $2,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,976. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 385,639 shares of company stock valued at $53,002,729. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Oracle from $133.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.83.

Oracle Stock Up 0.1 %

Oracle stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $143.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,919,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,684,125. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $125.81 and its 200 day moving average is $118.49. The company has a market cap of $394.83 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $99.26 and a 52-week high of $145.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.