Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Invests $605,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC acquired a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,547 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,262,000 after buying an additional 2,219,450 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 97.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $532,920,000 after buying an additional 2,093,893 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $219,224,000 after buying an additional 1,526,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,993,977,000 after buying an additional 1,514,569 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,146,320 shares of company stock worth $164,762,400 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $174.43 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $148.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.53. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $174.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $483.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.02, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.42.

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.