Scotia Capital Inc. Grows Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,001 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 37,854 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $43,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. F M Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 50.6% in the fourth quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 37,458 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $6,242,000 after purchasing an additional 12,589 shares during the period. Cutler Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $500,000. Spreng Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $229,000. DRW Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 126.5% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 10,576 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 5,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 8,797 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,466,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock valued at $453,791,001. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.65.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL traded up $1.26 on Monday, reaching $133.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,902,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,256,259. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $155.25 and a 200-day moving average of $167.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick 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. The company has a market capitalization of $373.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a positive change from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle's dividend 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.