Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. Makes New $303,000 Investment in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,874 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $15,599,200,000 after acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,982,630,000 after purchasing an additional 635,994 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,704,523 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,211,307,000 after buying an additional 61,604 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Oracle by 1.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,471,884 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $897,342,000 after buying an additional 89,876 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $865,472,000 after buying an additional 8,084,067 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $115.07. 5,491,654 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,535,559. The company has a market capitalization of $316.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $93.29 and a 12-month high of $132.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Oracle Company 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.