Aureus Asset Management LLC Acquires 464 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Aureus Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $10,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 15,710 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,670 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth $3,866,000. B&L Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth $624,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,594,000. Finally, Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,444,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $184.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $512.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.01. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $196.04.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.24%.

Oracle 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.