Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 17,719 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,893 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,719 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $30,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 21.9% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $158.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.79. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $442.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.