AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Buys 8,634 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,634 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Oracle were worth $31,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Oracle by 2,899.0% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 913,700 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $155,694,000 after acquiring an additional 883,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ORCL shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $183.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.89, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $174.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $162.49.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 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.