Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 37,743 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,752 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,743 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $17,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its stake in Oracle by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 5,313 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 785,296 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $82,794,000 after acquiring an additional 24,524 shares during the period. Security Financial Services INC. grew its position in Oracle by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 4,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Oracle by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,742,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $394,585,000 after purchasing an additional 382,307 shares during the period. Finally, NovaPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth $2,587,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Oracle from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Oracle from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $126.47 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.54 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The company has a market cap of $347.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.37.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.