Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,866 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock, valued at approximately $967,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 5,731 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. WorthPointe LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. WorthPointe LLC now owns 1,734 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Stage Harbor Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Stage Harbor Financial LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 11,288 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,881,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 4,149 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Oracle from $215.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Oracle from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $218.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead acquired 480 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $233.87 per share, for a total transaction of $112,257.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 22,110 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,170,865.70. This trade represents a 2.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 445,366 shares of company stock valued at $84,784,653 over the last ninety days. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL traded down $3.45 on Friday, hitting $245.30. 9,586,589 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,305,466. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $194.31 and a 200-day moving average of $168.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. Oracle Corporation has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $251.60. The stock has a market cap of $689.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. Oracle's payout ratio 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.