USS Investment Management Ltd Purchases 8,409 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 320,494 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,409 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $53,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.42.

Oracle Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE ORCL opened at $159.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $446.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.38. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $114.55 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,670.92. This trade represents a 8.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total value of $648,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,538,339.30. This trade represents a 7.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,366 shares of company stock worth $4,015,723 in the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.