New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,056,038 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 34,233 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.07% of Oracle worth $287,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. WorthPointe LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. WorthPointe LLC now owns 1,734 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Stage Harbor Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Stage Harbor Financial LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. now owns 1,354 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 11,288 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Westpark Capital lifted their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Oracle from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.37.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock traded up $6.29 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $241.25. The company had a trading volume of 12,555,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,292,261. The firm has a market cap of $677.64 billion, a PE ratio of 55.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.39. Oracle Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $241.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $190.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Oracle's payout ratio is 46.08%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 60,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,000,580.20. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 445,366 shares of company stock worth $84,784,653 in the last three months. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.