Cantillon Capital Management LLC Boosts Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 917,515 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,131 shares during the quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $152,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% in the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. 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 1-year low of $110.36 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $168.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.60.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.