Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 206,691 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 885,270 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 206,691 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $150,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,869,816,000 after acquiring an additional 296,866 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Oracle by 6.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,318,962 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,033,430,000 after purchasing an additional 424,500 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,182,917 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,015,862,000 after purchasing an additional 66,444 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 32.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,037,100 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $756,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America increased their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $169.52.

Oracle Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Oracle stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $192.29. 6,879,447 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,824,324. The company has a market capitalization of $532.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.56, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $196.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $175.62 and a 200 day moving average of $149.41.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle's payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.