Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $2.92 Billion Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,552,543 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 684,884 shares during the period. Oracle makes up approximately 316.0% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,924,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth about $768,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 85,090 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $14,179,000 after purchasing an additional 10,772 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 521,310 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $86,871,000 after purchasing an additional 85,246 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 43.3% in the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 16,514 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 4,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,570,021 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $594,908,000 after buying an additional 983,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 target price on Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Down 4.0 %

ORCL stock opened at $147.71 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $112.78 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $413.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $164.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.28. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.