CRA Financial Services LLC Raises Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

CRA Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,304 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on Oracle from $202.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Oracle from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday. Twelve equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $194.32.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $215.54 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $152.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $160.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $602.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $216.60.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,097,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 427,366 shares of company stock valued at $80,183,723 in the last three months. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.