National Pension Service Acquires 175,195 Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service owns a $477.53 million stake in Oracle Corporation, with holdings of approximately 3.4 million shares after a 5.4% increase in the first quarter.
• Oracle reported $1.70 earnings per share for the latest quarter, which exceeded analyst estimates of $1.64, and revenue of $15.90 billion, surpassing expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, indicating an annual dividend yield of 0.8% with a payout ratio of 46.08%.

National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,415,594 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 175,195 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.12% of Oracle worth $477,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 15,012.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 20.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,350,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 268.4% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 3,077,947 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $512,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242,520 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $215.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $222.75.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL traded up $0.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $244.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,274,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,014,424. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $687.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.43, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.43. 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 fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $260.87.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion for 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%. The business's revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 31,447 shares in the company, valued at $7,337,214.04. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.99, for a total transaction of $2,329,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 40,807 shares in the company, valued at $9,507,622.93. This trade represents a 19.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 444,183 shares of company stock valued at $86,521,198 in the last 90 days. Corporate 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.