Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 644,079 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,020 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for about 1.6% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $109,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $169.52.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL traded down $3.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $183.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,986,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,256,067. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $191.77. The firm's 50 day moving average is $172.14 and its 200-day moving average is $146.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $509.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.