National Pension Service Purchases 394,004 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

National Pension Service increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,238,861 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 394,004 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises approximately 0.5% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. National Pension Service’s holdings in Oracle were worth $551,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 7,789 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. raised its position in Oracle by 1.4% in the third quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 7,898 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 37.7% during the third quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 89,551 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,259,000 after purchasing an additional 24,525 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 14,640 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,549,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,509 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.52.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 0.1 %

ORCL opened at $169.81 on Monday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $178.61. The company has a market cap of $470.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.24.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 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.