LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Takes Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,331 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $161.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $452.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.59, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $110.36 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Oracle Company 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.