Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Has $82.08 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 492,542 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 204,101 shares during the quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $82,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after buying an additional 156,269 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,954,961,000 after buying an additional 619,619 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,366,531,000 after buying an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,269,566,000 after buying an additional 2,176,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens initiated coverage on Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.42.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $157.27 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $114.55 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.55 and a 200-day moving average of $162.24. The company has a market capitalization of $439.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,785,531.60. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723. Insiders own 42.20% 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.