Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $460,000 Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,761 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 96 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $460,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ORCL. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Up 7.3 %

Oracle stock opened at $172.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $483.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.25, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.06. 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 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.70.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

About Oracle

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.