Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Has $1.65 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,886 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 374 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 5.2 %

ORCL stock opened at $170.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $172.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.03. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $476.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ORCL. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle 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.