Jennison Associates LLC Invests $21.50 Million in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 203,878 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,495,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sandy Spring Bank raised its stake in Oracle by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 78,049 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $8,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its position in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 5,986 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Cooper Financial Group grew its position in Oracle by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,038 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $171,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ORCL. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $114.86 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $93.29 and a one year high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.01.

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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.