King Luther Capital Management Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,874,650 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,054 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up about 1.8% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned 0.10% of Oracle worth $405,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after acquiring an additional 82,551 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,539,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,342 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Oracle by 148.8% in 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. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,300,941,000 after purchasing an additional 697,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Melius Research upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.88.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.56 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $173.99. The stock has a market cap of $461.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.16, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.01. 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 50-day moving average of $141.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.44.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 37,221 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.19, for a total value of $5,218,011.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $368,246,045.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,610,402 shares of company stock worth $230,556,257. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.