Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Bought by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 14.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,590 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Oracle were worth $11,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 39.8% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 46,305 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $4,905,000 after buying an additional 13,183 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 39.8% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,991 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 2,276 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 17.9% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,013 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Oracle by 5.6% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 10,040 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in Oracle by 4.2% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 172,965 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,320,000 after purchasing an additional 6,962 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on Oracle from $133.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus increased their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Oracle from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.83.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $141.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 25,814,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,264,646. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $145.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.06, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,294.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,294.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 385,639 shares of company stock worth $53,002,729. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.