Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Acquires 719 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,411 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 78,049 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $8,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 5,986 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth about $229,000. Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in Oracle by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,038 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $171,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ORCL. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL traded down $1.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $114.88. The stock had a trading volume of 8,251,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,931,178. The firm has a market cap of $315.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $93.29 and a 12 month high of $132.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $119.23 and a 200 day moving average of $112.85. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company 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.