Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 36.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,705 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,107 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $20,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ORCL. 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 worth $231,203,000 after purchasing an additional 643,490 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew 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 worth $3,089,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $3,151,000 after acquiring an additional 7,982 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.13.

Oracle Trading Up 0.2 %

ORCL stock opened at $168.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The company has a market cap of $465.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.28, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $132.10. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $173.99.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 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 company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,610,402 shares of company stock valued at $230,556,257. Company 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.