Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 88,462 Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in Oracle Corporation by 13.3%, acquiring an additional 88,462 shares, bringing its total to 753,706 shares worth approximately $105.4 million.
• Oracle's stock was recently upgraded by multiple analysts, with target prices ranging from $250 to $315, indicating a strong consensus of a "Moderate Buy" among analysts.
• Oracle reported $1.70 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and reflecting an 11.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 753,706 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 88,462 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Oracle were worth $105,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 284.9% in the first quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead acquired 480 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $233.87 per share, with a total value of $112,257.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 22,110 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,170,865.70. This represents a 2.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total transaction of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,097,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 431,169 shares of company stock worth $82,908,609. Insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Oracle from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $270.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. CIBC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $240.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $218.29.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $244.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $686.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.32, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $213.55 and a 200 day moving average of $174.74. Oracle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $260.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.08%.

About Oracle

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.

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