Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by Stanley Laman Group Ltd.

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,012 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $194.32.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,538,339.30. This trade represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 427,366 shares of company stock valued at $80,183,723 over the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $215.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $602.86 billion, a PE ratio of 52.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $152.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $118.86 and a 12 month high of $216.60.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.08%.

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.