Advisors Asset Management Inc. Increases Position in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Oracle Corporation by 10.8%, bringing its holdings to 122,643 shares valued at approximately $17.15 million.
• Oracle's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $1.70, beating expectations, with revenue increasing by 11.3% year-over-year to $15.90 billion.
• The company's stock has received varied ratings from analysts, with a consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.04.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,643 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,946 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $17,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 15,012.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,755,096 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $664,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,723,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $22,498,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,513,464 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,825,360 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $2,303,858,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Oracle by 79.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,638,951 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $648,572,000 after acquiring an additional 2,049,687 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $240.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Oracle from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.04.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL traded up $9.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $232.87. The stock had a trading volume of 15,362,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,682,923. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $239.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Oracle Corporation has a one year low of $118.86 and a one year high of $260.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $654.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.46.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Oracle's payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total value of $3,211,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 60,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,000,580.20. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 31,447 shares in the company, valued at $7,337,214.04. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 444,183 shares of company stock valued at $86,521,198. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

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.