Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $51,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 480 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,982,630,000 after purchasing an additional 635,994 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,704,523 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,211,307,000 after purchasing an additional 61,604 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 89,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. 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 note on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $115.07. 5,491,654 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,535,559. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $93.29 and a 52-week high of $132.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.03. The company has a market cap of $316.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.