BNP Paribas Has $7.07 Million Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

BNP Paribas increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,467 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,894 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Oracle were worth $7,066,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.52.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $190.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $527.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $176.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.66. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one 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 results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.