CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 4,566 Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,566 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,998,798,000 after acquiring an additional 97,635 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $154.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $433.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

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.