Paloma Partners Management Co Raises Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Paloma Partners Management Co raised its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 123.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,710 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,670 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 5.3% in 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 buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $184.84 on Monday. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $196.04. The firm has a market cap of $512.20 billion, a PE ratio of 47.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $177.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ORCL. KeyCorp raised their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

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.