Peoples Financial Services CORP. Acquires 283 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises 1.0% of Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in Oracle by 15.3% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,160,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 79.6% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.48.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $156.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $176.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.24. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $105.42 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $437.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

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.