Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Buys 6,729 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 321,290 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 6,729 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $53,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 12.4% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Oracle during the third quarter valued at about $2,590,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 0.6% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,961 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,531,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total value of $648,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 352,174 shares of company stock valued at $64,990,957 in the last 90 days. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.42.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL traded up $6.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $137.57. The company had a trading volume of 7,292,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,360,370. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.49. The stock has a market cap of $384.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. This is an increase from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle's payout ratio is currently 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.