Chicago Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,566 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,419 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $9,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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. grew its position in Oracle by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,366,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Oracle by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,269,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,892 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $221.00 price objective (up previously from $202.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Oracle from $210.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $195.39.

Oracle Stock Up 1.2%

ORCL stock traded up $2.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $210.63. 15,046,293 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,813,170. The firm's 50 day moving average is $155.97 and its 200 day moving average is $160.82. Oracle Corporation has a twelve month low of $118.86 and a twelve month high of $216.60. 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 cap of $589.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,097,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 427,366 shares of company stock valued at $80,183,723. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

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.