Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $139.30 Million Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,321,230 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,772 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Oracle were worth $139,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its holdings in Oracle by 298.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 1,268.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ORCL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC lifted their price objective on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair raised Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Up 2.0 %

Oracle stock traded up $2.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $117.21. 8,355,111 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,810,524. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $93.29 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $119.42 and its 200-day moving average is $113.13.

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. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

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.