Xponance Inc. Purchases 6,924 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 269,661 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $28,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $1,409,896,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 112,785.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,832,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $885,451,000 after acquiring an additional 10,822,934 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Oracle by 9,299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after acquiring an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Oracle by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,502,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,675,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,080 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL traded down $2.67 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $116.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,639,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,575,121. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $93.29 and a 1-year high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $119.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.78.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. HSBC upped their target price on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

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.