Point72 Europe London LLP Buys New Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Point72 Europe London LLP purchased a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 72,903 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,423,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in Oracle by 18.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,281,513 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $218,370,000 after purchasing an additional 200,116 shares during the period. Circle Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,775 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,926,000 after buying an additional 10,836 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 28,210 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $4,807,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Oracle by 1.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 807,709 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $137,634,000 after acquiring an additional 14,882 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 162.0% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 38,165 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,503,000 after acquiring an additional 23,598 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Melius upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Oracle Trading Up 1.3 %

ORCL opened at $185.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $512.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.58. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $196.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.