First Financial Bankshares Inc Boosts Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

First Financial Bankshares Inc increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,857 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Oracle were worth $309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth about $930,095,000. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,787,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,764 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,012,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,609 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $149.48 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $112.78 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $418.10 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

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.