203,878 Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Bought by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 203,878 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,495,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 12,089 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,163 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $755,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in Oracle by 1.0% in the third quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 9,443 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.5% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 21,290 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,255,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Argus raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Oracle Stock Performance

Oracle stock opened at $114.86 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $93.29 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $315.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

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.