Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 89,723 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 679,325 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 89,723 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Oracle were worth $113,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens started coverage on Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $167.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,749,670.92. This trade represents a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,785,531.60. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723 in the last 90 days. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 0.7%

ORCL stock traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $162.65. The stock had a trading volume of 2,988,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,478,840. The firm has a market cap of $454.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $114.55 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.61.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Oracle's payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.