180,000 Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Bought by Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 180,000 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,004,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 2.3 %

ORCL opened at $172.37 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.15. The company has a market capitalization of $482.11 billion, a PE ratio of 42.14, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $109.79 and a 1-year high of $198.31. 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 released its 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). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ORCL. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.