Bailard Inc. Purchases 52,106 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Bailard Inc. increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 189.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 79,636 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 52,106 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $8,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sandy Spring Bank raised its stake in Oracle by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 78,049 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $8,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 5,986 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Quantum Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter worth about $229,000. Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in Oracle by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,038 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $171,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Argus raised Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Up 0.3 %

ORCL stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $115.39. 5,787,354 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,500,789. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $93.29 and a one year high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $317.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $119.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.

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