Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 22,230 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 200,976 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,230 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $34,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,869,816,000 after purchasing an additional 296,866 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,318,962 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,033,430,000 after acquiring an additional 424,500 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,182,917 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,015,862,000 after acquiring an additional 66,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Oracle by 32.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,037,100 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $756,100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,734 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 analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $192.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $532.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $99.26 and a twelve month high of $196.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.41.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.