Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 28,138 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 169,108 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,138 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $23,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $231,203,000 after acquiring an additional 643,490 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its position in Oracle by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,315 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,151,000 after buying an additional 7,982 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.42.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,764,079.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 in the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $170.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.11. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $173.99.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

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.