Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL – Get Rating) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 448,106 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,437 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $27,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 108.9% during the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 401 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead sold 8,080 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.82, for a total value of $725,745.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,005,714.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 43.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $105.00 price target on Oracle in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Bank of America raised their price target on Oracle from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Cowen dropped their price target on Oracle from $98.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Credit Suisse Group set a $115.00 price target on Oracle in a research note on Monday, January 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $72.00 price target on Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.06.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $84.56 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $60.78 and a 1-year high of $91.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.28. The company has a market capitalization of $228.00 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. Oracle had a negative return on equity of 262.40% and a net margin of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 11th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.81%.

Oracle Profile

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Oracle Corp. engages in the provision of products and services that address all aspects of corporate information technology environments. It operates through the following business segments: Cloud and License, Hardware, and Services. The Cloud and License segment markets, sells, and delivers applications, platform, and infrastructure technologies.