Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 2,328 Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,741 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 2,328 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $4,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $6,332,803,000 after purchasing an additional 156,269 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $5,954,961,000 after purchasing an additional 619,619 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $3,366,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722,037 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Oracle by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,269,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $195.00 target price (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, June 13th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $196.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,785,531.60. This trade represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 427,366 shares of company stock worth $80,183,723 in the last ninety days. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL traded up $2.45 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $210.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,046,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,813,175. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $589.13 billion, a PE ratio of 48.53, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.32. Oracle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $216.60.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.08%.

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.