Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 208,100 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 542,174 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 208,100 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Oracle were worth $92,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,262,000 after buying an additional 2,219,450 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052,275 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,037,100 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $756,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,734 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 123.7% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,645,920 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $373,604,000 after buying an additional 1,462,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $182.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $506.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $196.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.